FRENCH 

EDUCATIONAL 

IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

Buisson  and 
Farrington 


i^- 


FRENCH 

EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS 

OF  TODAY 

AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  THE  HOLDERS 

OF  FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  THOUGHT 

OF  THE  PRESENT 

Edited  by 
FERDINAND  BUISSON 

Form^y  Director  of  Primary  Education  in  France 
and  Member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 

and 
FREDERIC  ERNEST  FARRINGTON 

Sometime  Associate  Professor  of 

G)mparative  Education,  Columbia  University; 

Headmaster  Chevy  Chase  School, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Yonkers-on-Hudson,  New  York 
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1919 


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THE  BATTLEFIELDS  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 
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FOREWORD 

Two  members  of  the  International  Congress  on  Educa- 
tion, held  at  Oakland,  California,  in  1915,  noticed 
regretfully  to  what  extent  the  personnel  of  the  two 
systems  of  education  in  France  and  the  United  States, 
although  animated  by  a  common  inspiration,  were 
ignorant  of  each  other's  purposes  and  ideals. 

It  seemed  to  M.  Ferdinand  Buisson,  oflficial  repre- 
sentative at  Oakland  of  the  French  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction,  formerly  Director  of  Primary  Education 
in  France,  and  to  Frederic  Ernest  Farrington,  execu- 
tive secretary  of  the  Congress  and  connected  with 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  that  a  first 
attempt  at  bringing  these  two  systems  of  schools 
closer  together  could  be  made  by  exchanging  two 
volumes  of  texts  chosen  from  representative  educators 
in  both  countries,  each  volume  to  be  translated  into 
the  language  of  the  other  country.  Pursuant  to  this 
feeling,  it  was  determined  to  bring  out  simultaneously 
in  the  two  countries  two  volumes  which  should  portray 
to  American  readers  the  fundamental  ideals  on  which 
the  French  system  of  education  is  grounded,  and  to 
French  readers  in  similar  fashion  the  dominant  ideals 
underlying  our  American  educational  spirit.  French 
Educational  Ideals  of  Today  represents  the  American 
part  of  the  plan,  and  we  hope  that  it  may  help  the 
American  public  to  understand  better  the  French 
educational  point  of  view. 

Two  subjects,  lay  education  and  moral  instruction, 
may  seem  to  have  received  an  undue  amount  of  atten- 
tion. These  are  really  two  phases  of  the  same  question, 
separation  of  Church  and  State,  or  lay  versus  clerical 


vi  FOREWORD 

control  of  education,  and  they  still  occupy  a  dominant 
position  in  French  educational  discussion.  Whether 
the  reputed  revival  of  religious  interest  will  have  any 
bearing  on  this  point  remains  to  be  seen.  At  all  events, 
today  lay  control  is  unquestionably  in  the  ascendant 
in  France. 

Obviously  a  limited  number  of  extracts  will  give 
but  a  suggestion  of  the  complete  picture  we  should 
like  to  show,  but  we  trust  that  the  consummation  of 
the  plan  will  give  French  teachers  a  glimpse  of  America 
and  American  teachers  a  glimpse  of  France. 

F.  B. 

F.  E.  F. 
May,  1919 


CONTENTS 

PAOB 

Foreword v 

Introduction xi 

By  Dr.  P.  P.  Claxton,  United  States  Commissioner  of 
Education 

Edgar  Quinet 1 

A  Lay  School  for  a  Lay  Society     ....  1 

Jules  Ferry 5 

Letter  to  the  Primary  Teachers  of  France     .         .  5 

Our  Need  of  Educators 15 

Program  for  Elementary  Education       ...  17 

Octave  Greard 32 

New  Mipthods  in  the  Paris  Primary  Schools  .         .  32 

Felix  Pecaut 43 

An  Experiment  in  Moral  Teaching  at  Fontenay- 

aux-Roses 43 

Non-Sectarianism 58 

The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Pedagogy  ....  64 

The  Woman  Normal  School  Principal   ...  69 

Madame  Kergomard 87 

What  Is  an  Infant  School  ? 87 

The  New  Program  for  Infant  Schools    ...  88 

Ernest  Lavisse .91 

The  Fatherland .  •  ^^ 

An  Open  Letter  to  the  Teachers  of  France  on  Civic 

Education 103 

Jean  Jaures        . 110 

The  Schoolmaster  and  Socialism    .         .         .         .110 
The  Sentiment  of  Human  Dignity,  the  Soul  of  the 

Lay  School 116 

The  School  and  Life       .         .         .         .         .         .119 

Georges  Clemenceau 122 

The  Schoolmaster 122 

Ferdinand  Buisson 128 

The  Schoolmaster  as  a  Pioneer  of  Democracy        .  128 

Education  of  the  Will 137 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

E.  Anthoine 162 

Up  and  Down  through  Our  Schools       .         .         .162 

Edmond  Blanguernon 167 

Attractive  Problems 167 

A  Sound  Body 169 

A  Morning  Prayer 173 

Ethical  Lessons 175 

On  the  Threshold  of  April 178 

Georges  Leygues       .        .        .        .        .        .        .182 

Education 182 

Emile  Durckheim 188 

The  School  of  Tomorrow 188 

Autobiographical  Sketches 193 

N.  Bizet 206 

The  Teacher  and  the  Adolescent   ....  206 

Gabriel  Seailles 208 

The  Real  Meaning  of  Non-Sectarianism        .         .  208 

Alfred  Moulet 212 

Program  for  Moral  Education        .         .         .         .212 

Edouard  Petit 216 

Marriages  between  Teachers  .         .         .         .216 

The  Mutual  Benefit  Association  in  the  School       .  219 

School  Excursions 223 

Charles  Wagner 226 

The  Lesson  of  the  Ax  and  the  Key        .         .         .     226 
Lithe  Land  of  "Just  About"        ....     230 

Henri  Marion    . 236 

Questions  of  Discipline 236 

F.  Alengry  .         .         .         .    "     .         .         .         .     242 

Cultivation  and  Development  of  the  Reason  in  Our 
Schools .         .242 

Emile  Boutroux 245 

Morality  and  Religion 245 


CONTENTS  ix 


PAGE 


Le  Pere  Laberthonniebe  .        .        ,        .        .  248 

Authority  in  Education 248 

Mgr.  Alfred  Baudrillart 252 

On  the  Teaching  of  History 252 

Jules  Payot        .        .        .        .    "    .        .        .        .  257 

MiHtary  Service  and  Self-Control  ....  257 

Louis  Liard 260 

The  Place  of  Science  in  Secondary  Education         .  260 

Jules  Tannery 267 

The  Teaching  of  Elementary  Geometry  .         .  267 

Alfred  Cij^iset 273 

The  Study  of  Latin  and  Greek  and  the  Democracy  273 

Madame  Jules  Favre 280 

Extracts  from  the  Letters  of  Madame  Jules  Favre  280 

On  Moral  Teaching 285 

Extract  from  Address  at  the  First  General  Re- 
union of  the  Graduates  of  Sevres        .         .         .  287 

B.  Jacob 288 

Resignation 288 

GusTAVE  Lanson 295 

The  Modern  Subjects  in  Secondary  Education      .  295 

Paul  Desjardins 309 

Interpretation  of  Texts  in  the  Lycee      .         .         .  309 

Gabriel  Compayre 316 

The  Question  of  Overwork 316 

Albert  Dumont 318 

Democracy  and  Education 318 

Democracy  and  the  Three  Degrees  of  Education  .  319 

Paul  Painleve 321 

Address  before  the  International  Educational  Con- 
ference          321 


INTRODUCTION 

Stimulated  by  a  common  danger,  France  and  the 
United  States,  the  two  foremost  republics  of  the  world, 
have  been  drawn  closer  together  during  these  last 
years  than  ever  before.  Democracy  has  been  at  stake, 
and  our  two  great  nations  have  joined  with  the  other 
allies  against  a  common  foe.  As  the  German  school- 
master won  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  so  the  ideals 
that  have  inspired  the  heroes  of  the  two  great  demo- 
cratic nations  today  have  been  the  ideals  inculcated 
in  the  schoolroom. 

The  good  feeling  that  has  so  long  existed  between  the 
sister  republics  has  been  revivified  and  more  firmly 
established,  and  whatever  conduces  to  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  national  viewpoints  is  to  be  encouraged. 
It  is  on  this  basis  that  I  am  happy  to  write  this  brief 
word  of  introduction  to  a  book  that  sets  before  the 
American  public  in  general  and  the  American  teaching 
force  in  particular  the  educational  ideals  that  have 
dominated  in  France  during  the  late  nineteenth  and 
the  early  twentieth  centuries. 

After  reading  the  simple  yet  eloquent  phrases  of 
Ernest  Lavisse,  the  leading  historian  of  France,  one 
cannot  wonder  at  the  sturdy  and  dogged  fortitude  of 
the  French  poilu.  Animated  by  an  international 
nationalism,  M.  Lavisse  in  this  address  in  1905  soimded 
with  prophetic  foresight  the  dangers  that  France 
actually  had  to  face  in  1914.  Mgr.  Baudrillart  echoes 
the  same  patriotic  spirit  of  sacrifice  in  no  less  clarion 
notes. 

Educators  are  asking  each  other,  "  What  changes 
will  the  war  bring  in  our  schools.?"    M.  Durckheim, 

xi 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

in  the  brief  extract  quoted,  utters  a  word  of  construc- 
tive criticism  on  the  educational  ideals  of  the  present  and 
indicates  the  direction  in  which  future  modifications 
should  tend.     "  Social  discipline"  is  the  keynote. 

Practical  suggestions  are  found  in  M.  Petit's  two 
articles  on  "Mutual  Benefit  Associations"  and  "School 
Excursions,"  while  several  writers  set  forth  the  ideals 
of  the  lay  school  divorced  from  ecclesiastical  control 
which  is  still  one  of  the  much-discussed  questions  in 
French  education.  Notice  especially  articles  by  Edgar 
Quinet,  Jules  Ferry,  Felix  Pecaut,  Georges  Clemenceau, 
Ferdinand  Buisson,  Gabriel  Seailles,  and  Paul  Pain- 
leve. 

In  these  days  of  youthful  irresponsibility,  Charles 
Wagner's  "In  the  Land  of  *Just  About'"  is  particu- 
larly timely,  and  is  well  worth  the  attention  of  old  and 
young  alike. 

May  this  contribution  conduce  to  a  more  intelligent 
and  so  more  sympathetic  acquaintance  with  the  spirit 
of  French  education  on  the  part  of  the  American  people  ! 

P.  P.  Claxton 
Washington,  D.C. 


FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS 
OF  TODAY 

EDGAR  QUINET 

Edgar  Quinet  (1803-1875)  was  professor  at  the  College  de 
France  at  the  end  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign.  With  his  colleague 
and  friend,  Michelet,  he  gave  those  famous  lectures  which  aroused 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  youth  of  the  liberal  party  and  the  wrath  of 
the  reactionaries.  Elected  deputy  in  1848,  he  protested  ener- 
getically against  the  coup  d'Stat  of  December  2,  1851,  and  went 
into  exile,  to  return  only  upon  the  fall  of  the  Empire  in  1870.  He 
spent  these  nineteen  years  in  awakening  the  French  conscience  by 
his  forceful  writings.  In  1850,  while  a  member  of  the  legislative 
assembly  and  at  the  very  moment  of  the  clerical  reaction,  he  wrote 
U enseignement  du  peuplcy  in  which  he  resolutely  states  the  principles 
of  a  national  education  animated  by  the  republican  spirit.  It  is 
Edgar  Quinet's  plan  that  was  realized  by  the  Third  Republic 
through  the  school  laws  which  have  been  in  force  since  1880. 

A  LAY  SCHOOL  FOR  A  LAY  SOCIETY  ^ 

No  particular  church  being  the  soul  of  France,  the 
teaching  which  diffuses  this  soul  should  be  indepen- 
dent of  every  particular  church. 

The  teacher  is  not  merely  the  priest's  assistant; 
he  teaches  what  no  priest  can  teach,  the  alliance  of 
churches  in  the  same  society. 

The  teacher  has  a  more  universal  doctrine  than  the 
priest,  for  he  speaks  to  Catholic,  Protestant,  and  Jew 
alike,  and  he  brings  them  all  into  the  same  civil  com- 
munion. 

The  teacher  is  obliged  to  say :  "You  are  all  children 
of  the  same  God  and  of  the  same  country ;    take  hold 

1  Extract  from  Venseignement  du  peuple,  1850. 
1 


2  /,     FRENCH  KpUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

of  each  other's  hands  until  death."  The  priest  is 
obhged  to  say:  "You  are  the  children  of  different 
churches,  but  among  these  mothers  there  is  but  one 
who  is  legitimate.  All  those  who  do  not  belong  to  her 
are  accursed ;  they  shall  remain  orphans.  Be,  then, 
separated  in  time,  since  you  must  be  separated  in 
eternity." 

Do  you  think  it  would  be  a  misfortune  for  your  child 
thus  to  be  born  to  civil  life  with  any  feeling  of  concord, 
peace,  and  union  toward  his  brethren?  Is  the  first 
smile  that  heaven  has  given  him,  given  him  to  curse? 
Must  his  first  lisping  be  an  anathema  ? 

The  intention  of  the  sacerdotal  castes  has  always 
been  that  they  are  the  only  power  capable  of  giving 
a  foundation  to  civil  and  political  institutions.  Look 
at  them  wherever  they  have  held  sway,  among  the 
Hindus  or  in  the  states  of  Rome.  While  they  reigned, 
each  detail  of  the  civil  state,  its  administration,  even 
the  police,  were  things  sacred;  in  the  theocracy  of 
Moses  the  smallest  hygienic  or  agricultural  regulation 
came  from  the  wisdom  on  high.  Every  prescription 
of  the  priest  is  of  divine  institution;  the  thought  of 
heaven  permeates  the  whole  body  of  laws. 

As  soon  as  lay  society  frees  itself  from  the  rule  of  the 
priests,  it  is  considered  to  have  broken  off  all  relation 
with  the  eternal  order.  The  same  laws  which  formerly 
were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  God  are  now  but  the 
caprices  of  chance.  From  the  moment  that  this  State, 
which  was  said  to  be  of  divine  institution,  dispenses 
with  the  priest,  it  is  proclaimed  atheistic.  Yesterday 
it  was  eternal  wisdom,  manifested  and  written  in  the 
laws.     Today  it  is  a  blind  person  who  pushes  away 


EDGAR  QUINET  3 

his  guide.  It  knows  nothing,  it  sees  nothing.  Sep- 
arated from  the  priest,  what  remains  for  it  to  teach? 
Not  even  the  wisdom  which  the  ant  teaches  the  ant. 

If  society  without  the  priest  does  not  beheve  in  jus- 
tice, why  does  it  seek  from  century  to  century  to  come 
nearer  to  justice  in  the  development  of  law.?  If  it 
does  not  believe  in  truth,  why  does  it  pursue  truth  in 
science  .f^  If  it  does  not  believe  in  order,  why  does  it 
pursue  order  in  the  succession  of  its  institutions  and 
revolutions  ? 

Justice,  truth,  absolute  order,  what  are  they  but 
the  eternal  source  of  divine  ideas;  in  other  words, 
that  essence  of  the  God  on  which  the  customs  of  the 
State  are  ordered  .f^  This  God  of  order  and  of  justice, 
this  eternal  geometer  who  descends  by  degrees  into 
the  very  groundwork  of  the  laws  of  all  civilized  peoples, 
is  not  the  one  who  pleases  the  sacerdotal  castes.  Is 
this  a  reason  for  conceding  that  a  society  contains  no 
principle  outside  its  Church,  no  moral  teaching  outside 
its  clergy,  or  that  all  light  dies  out  if  it  is  not  lighted 
at  the  altar  ? 

People  repeat  incessantly  that  lay  society  has  no 
fundamental  principle  and  consequently  nothing  to 
teach.  At  least  you  must  admit  that  better  than 
any  one  else  it  can  teach  itself,  and  that  is  precisely 
the  point  in  question  in  lay  teaching. 

For  my  part  I  have  always  claimed  that  society 
possesses  a  principle  which  it  alone  is  in  a  position  to 
profess,  and  that  on  this  principle  is  founded  its  ab- 
solute right  to  teach  in  civil  matters.  That  which 
forms  the  foundation  of  this  society,  makes  its  existence 
possible,  and  prevents  it  from  falling  to  pieces,  is  pre- 


4         FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

cisely  a  point  which  cannot  be  taught  with  equal  au- 
thority by  any  of  the  official  cults.  This  society  lives 
on  the  principle  of  the  love  of  citizens  for  one  another 
independently  of  their  beliefs. 

Do  you  wish  to  free  lay  teaching?  Dare  affirm 
what  three  centuries  have  affirmed  before  you,  that 
it  is  sufficient  unto  itself,  that  it  exists  of  itself,  that 
it  itself  is  belief  and  science. 

How  has  modern  science  been  constituted.^  By 
breaking  away  from  the  science  of  the  Church.  The 
civil  \siw?  By  breaking  away  from  canon  law.  The 
political  constitution  .f^  By  breaking  away  from  the 
religion  of  the  State.  All  the  elements  of  modern 
society  have  developed  by  emancipating  themselves 
from  the  Church.  The  most  important  of  all  —  edu- 
cation —  remains  to  be  emancipated.  By  a  conclusion 
deduced  from  all  that  precedes,  is  it  not  clear  that  we 
can  regulate  it  only  on  condition  that  it  be  completely 
separated  from  ecclesiastical  education  ? 


JULES  FERRY 

Jules  Ferry  was  born  at  St.  Die  in  1832  and  died  in  Paris,  March 
17,  1893.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Republican  faction  opposed  to 
the  government  at  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Napoleon  III,  mayor  of 
Paris  dm-ing  the  siege  of  1870-71,  a  member  of  the  National  As- 
sembly, then  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  where  he  became  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  left  wing.  From  1879  to  1885  he  was  several 
times  Minister  of  Public  Instruction. 

Deriving  his  inspiration  from  Condorcet's  "Plan  of  Education'* 
and  from  the  ideas  of  Edgar  Quinet,  he  brought  about  the  enact- 
ment of  the  school  laws  which  have  been  justly  named  the  "Ferry 
laws."  These  laws  provide  for  compulsory,  free,  elementary  edu- 
cation to  be  given  by  laymen,  for  the  secondary  instruction  of 
girls,  for  professional  schools  and  normal  schools.  They  instituted 
the  "Higher  Council  of  Public  Instruction"  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  system  of  national  education  which  has  been  gradually 
realized  by  the  Third  Republic. 

Jules  Ferry  was  at  the  same  time  founder  of  the  French  colonial 
empire,  an  achievement  which  made  him  very  unpopular  for  a  long 
time.  He  bore  this  unpopularity  with  exceptional  dignity  and 
strength  of  character. 

One  year  after  the  promulgation  of  the  law  of  March  28,  1882, 
the  minister  addressed  to  the  primary  school  teachers  the  letter 
published  herewith,  as  conveying  the  most  authentic  statement  of 
the  real  spirit  of  the  new  legislation. 


LETTER  TO  THE  PRIMARY  TEACHERS  OF 
FRANCE,  NOVEMBER  17,   1883 

The  academic  year  just  opened  will  be  the  second 
since  the  law  of  March  28,  1882,  went  into  effect.  At 
this  time  I  cannot  refrain  from  sending  you  personally 
a  few  brief  words  which  you  will  probably  not  find 
inopportune,  in  view  of  the  experience  you  have  just 
had  with  the  new  regime.  Of  the  diverse  obligations 
it  imposes  upon  you,  assuredly  the  one  nearest  your 
heart,  the  one  which  brings  you  the  heaviest  increase 
of  work  and  anxiety,  is  your  mission  to  instruct  your 

5 


6        FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

pupils  in  ethics  and  citizenship.  You  will  be  grateful 
to  me,  I  am  sure,  for  answering  the  questions  which 
preoccupy  you  at  present,  by  trying  to  determine  the 
character  and  the  purpose  of  this  teaching.  In  order 
to  succeed  more  surely  I  shall,  with  your  permission, 
put  myself  in  your  place  for  an  instant  to  show  you 
by  examples  borrowed  from  your  everyday  experience 
how  you  can  do  your  duty,  and  your  whole  duty,  in 
this  respect. 

The  law  of  March  28  is  characterized  by  two  pro- 
visions which  supplement  each  other  and  harmonize 
completely :  on  the  one  hand  it  excludes  the  teaching 
of  any  particular  dogma;  on  the  other  it  gives  first 
place  among  required  subjects  to  moral  and  civic 
teaching.  Religious  instruction  is  the  province  of  the 
family ;    moral  instruction  belongs  to  the  school. 

Our  legislators  did  not  mean  to  pass  an  act  that  was 
purely  negative.  Doubtless  their  first  object  was  to 
separate  the  school  from  the  Church,  to  assure  freedom 
of  conscience  to  both  teachers  and  pupils,  in  short,  to 
distinguish  between  two  domains  too  long  confused; 
the  domain  of  beliefs,  which  are  personal,  free,  and 
variable ;  and  that  of  knowledge,  which,  by  universal 
consent,  is  common  and  indispensable  to  all.  But 
there  is  something  else  in  the  law  of  March  28.  It 
states  the  determination  of  the  people  to  found  here 
at  home  a  national  education,  and  to  found  it  on  the 
idea  of  duty  and  of  right,  which  the  legislator  does  not 
hesitate  to  inscribe  among  the  fundamental  truths  of 
which  no  one  can  be  ignorant. 

It  is  on  you,  Sir,  that  the  public  has*  counted  to 
realize  this  all-important  part   of  education.     While 


JULES  FERRY  7 

you  are  relieved  from  religious  teaching,  there  never 
was  a  question  of  relieving  you  from  moral  teaching. 
That  would  have  deprived  you  of  the  chief  dignity 
of  your  profession.  On  the  contrary,  it  seemed  quite 
natural  that  the  master,  while  teaching  the  children 
to  read  and  write,  should  also  impart  to  them  those 
simple  rules  of  moral  conduct  which  are  not  less  uni- 
versally accepted  than  the  rules  of  language  or  of 
arithmetic. 

Has  the  Parliament  made  a  mistake  in  conferring 
such  functions  upon  you  ?  Has  it  presumed  too  much 
on  your  strength,  on  your  willingness,  on  your  com- 
petence .^^  Assuredly  it  would  have  incurred  this  re- 
proach had  it  planned  suddenly  to  commission  eighty 
thousand  teachers  to  give  a  sort  of  course  ex  cathedra 
on  the  principles,  origins,  and  ultimate  ends  of  morality. 
But  whoever  conceived  anything  of  the  sort.f^  Im- 
mediately after  the  passing  of  the  law,  the  Higher 
Council  of  Public  Instruction  took  care  to  explain 
what  was  expected  of  you,  and  it  did  so  in  terms  defy- 
ing misinterpretation.  I  am  inclosing  a  copy  of  the 
programs  it  has  approved,  and  they  will  give  you 
a  precious  commentary  on  the  law.  I  cannot  too 
strongly  urge  you  to  reread  them  and  draw  inspira- 
tion from  them.  You  will  find  in  them  the  answer 
to  the  contradictory  criticisms  which  reach  your  ears. 
Let  me  explain  that  the  task  is  neither  beyond  your 
strength  nor  unworthy  of  you;  that  it  is  exceedingly 
limited  but  nevertheless  of  great  importance,  extremely 
simple  but  at  the  same  time  extremely  difficult. 

Your  r61e  as  regards  moral  education  is  exceedingly 
limited.     Properly  speaking,   you  have  nothing  new 


8        FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

to  teach,  nothing  which  is  not  familiar  to  you  as  well 
as  to  all  honest  men.  Thus  when  people  speak  of 
your  mission  and  your  apostolate  you  will  not  mis- 
understand. You  are  in  no  way  sent  fofth  with  a 
new  Gospel ;  our  legislators  did  not  wish  to  make  of 
you  either  a  philosopher  or  an  improvised  theologian. 
They  ask  nothing  one  cannot  ask  any  man  with  heart 
and  good  judgment.  It  is  impossible  that  you  should 
see  all  these  children  crowding  round  you  day  after 
day,  listening  to  your  lessons,  observing  your  conduct, 
drawing  inspiration  from  your  example,  at  the  age 
when  the  mind  is  awakening,  when  the  heart  is  being 
opened  and  the  memory  enriched,  without  yoiu*  having 
the  desire  to  profit  by  their  receptivity  and  their  con- 
fidence. There  must  necessarily  come  to  you  the  idea 
of  giving  them,  together  with  the  school  learning 
properly  so  called,  the  first  principles  of  morality; 
I  mean  simply  those  time-honored  principles  which  we 
have  received  from  our  fathers  and  mothers,  and 
which  we  all  consider  it  an  honor  to  follow  in  our 
everyday  life,  without  taking  the  trouble  to  discuss 
their  philosophical  basis. 

You  are  the  father's  helper  and  in  some  respects  his 
substitute.  Speak,  therefore,  to  his  child  as  you  would 
like  to  have  a  teacher  talk  to  your  own,  with  force  and 
authority,  whenever  it  concerns  a  question  of  undis- 
puted truth  or  a  common  precept;  with  the  greatest 
reserve,  as  soon  as  you  risk  touching  upon  a  religious 
sentiment  of  which  you  are  not  the  judge. 

If  you  are  perplexed  at  times  to  know  just  how  far 
you  may  go  in  yom*  moral  teaching,  the  following  is  a 
practical  rule  on  which  you  can  rely :    Whatever  the 


JULES  FERRY  9 

precept,  the  maxim,  that  you  are  on  the  point  of  pro- 
posing to  your  pupils,  ask  yourself  if,  as  far  as  you 
know,  there  is  a  single  honest  man  that  could  be  of- 
fended by  what  you  are  about  to  say.  Ask  yourself 
if  a  father,  nay  if  a  single  father,  present  in  your  class- 
room and  listening  to  you,  could  in  good  faith  refuse 
his  approval  of  what  he  would  hear.  If  so,  refrain 
from  saying  it.  If  not,  speak  fearlessly,  for  what  you 
are  going  to  impart  to  the  child  is  not  your  own  wisdom ; 
it  is  the  wisdom  of  the  human  race ;  it  is  one  of  those 
universally  accepted  ideas  that  centuries  of  civiliza- 
tion have  added  to  the  heritage  of  humanity.  Narrow 
as  such  a  sphere  of  action  may  seem  to  you,  make  it  a 
point  of  honor  never  to  depart  from  it.  Remain  on 
this  side  of  the  boundary  line  rather  than  run  the  risk 
of  overstepping  it.  You  can  never  be  too  scrupulous 
about  touching  that  sacred  and  delicate  thing,  the 
conscience  of  a  child. 

But  when  you  have  once  faithfully  confined  your- 
self to  the  humble  and  safe  region  of  ordinary  morality, 
what  do  we  ask  of  you?  Speeches,  learned  disserta- 
tions, brilliant  exposition,  a  teaching  that  is  scholarly  ? 
No.  The  family  and  society  merely  ask  you  to  help 
bring  up  their  children  well,  to  make  them  honest 
citizens.  This  is  saying  that  they  expect  of  you  not 
words  but  acts ;  not  one  more  subject  entered  upon 
your  program,  but  a  very  practical  service  that  you 
can  render  the  country  rather  as  a  man  than  as  a 
teacher. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  a  series  of  truths  to  be  demon- 
strated, but  of  what  is  far  more  laborious,  a  long  chain 
of  moral  influences  to  exert  on  the  young  by  force  of 


10       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

patience,  by  firmness,  by  kindness,  by  the  strength 
of  your  character  and  your  persuasive  power.  Par- 
liament is  counting  on  you  to  teach  our  children  to 
live  properly  by  the  very  way  you  live  with  them  and 
before  them.  It  has  dared  claim  for  you  that  a  few 
generations  hence  the  habits  and  ideas  of  the  pop- 
ulations among  whom  you  have  worked  will  attest 
the  good  effects  of  your  lessons  in  moral  instruction. 
History  will  justify  this  opinion  of  the  French  Chambers 
inspired  by  our  teaching  body :  that  each  teacher  is 
a  natural  aid  to  moral  and  social  progress,  a  person 
whose  influence  cannot  fail  to  elevate  in  some  measure 
the  moral  standard.  This  r61e  is  great  enough  for  you 
to  feel  no  need  of  extending  it.  Subsequently  others 
will  take  it  upon  themselves  to  finish  the  work  you 
have  begun  and  will  add  to  this  elementary  instruc- 
tion in  ethics  a  complement  of  philosophic  or  religious 
culture.  For  your  part,  hold  to  the  task  which  society 
assigns  you  and  which  has  a  nobility  of  its  own. 

In  such  a  work,  as  you  know,  it  is  not  with  diffi- 
culties of  theory  and  involved  speculation  that  you 
will  have  to  cope;  it  is  with  faults,  vices,  and  coarse 
prejudices.  It  is  not  a  question  of  condemning  these 
faults,  —  does  not  every  one  condemn  them  ?  —  but  of 
making  them  disappear  by  unobtrusively  winning  a 
succession  of  small  victories.  Thus  it  does  not  suffice 
that  your  pupils  should  have  understood  and  retained 
your  lessons ;  it  is  especially  necessary  that  their 
characters  should  feel  the  effects.  It  is  not  in  school, 
it  is  more  particularly  outside  the  school,  that  one  will 
be  able  to  appreciate  the  value  of  your  teaching. 

Do  you  wish  to  evaluate  it  yourself  even  now,  to 


JULES  FERRY  11 

see  if  your  teaching  is  well  started  on  this,  the  only 
good  road  ?  Find  out  if  it  has  already  led  your  pupils 
to  practical  reforms.  You  have  spoken  to  them,  for 
instance,  of  the  respect  due  to  law.  If  this  lesson  does 
not  prevent  them  when  they  leave  the  classroom  from 
committing  a  fraud  or  even  a  trifling  act  of  poaching 
or  contraband,  you  have  failed  to  accomplish  your 
purpose ;    the  moral  lesson  has  not  sunk  in. 

Or,  again,  you  have  explained  to  them  what  justice 
is,  what  truth  is.  Are  they  deeply  enough  impressed 
to  prefer  to  confess  a  fault  rather  than  conceal  it  by  a 
falsehood,  and  to  object  to  unscrupulousness  or  to 
partiality  ? 

You  have  branded  selfishness  and  praised  self- 
sacrifice.  Have  they  the  next  moment  abandoned  a 
comrade  in  peril  to  think  only  of  themselves?  Your 
lesson  must  be  taught  again. 

Do  not  let  these  lapses  discourage  you.  It  is  not 
the  work  of  a  day  to  form  or  reform  a  free  soul.  Doubt- 
less many  lessons  are  necessary  to  accomplish  this, 
with  reading  and  maxims,  written,  copied,  read,  and 
reread;  but  especially  necessary  are  practice,  effort, 
acts,  and  habits.  Children  have  a  moral  apprentice- 
ship to  serve  just  as  they  have  an  apprenticeship  in 
reading  and  arithmetic.  The  child  who  knows  how 
to  recognize  and  put  letters  together  does  not  yet 
know  how  to  read ;  the  one  who  knows  how  to  trace 
letters  one  after  another  does  not  know  how  to  write. 
What  do  they  both  need?  Practice,  habit,  facility, 
rapidity,  and  sureness  of  execution.  In  the  same  way 
a  child  who  repeats  the  first  principles  of  morality 
does  not  yet  know  how  to  conduct  himself;    he  must 


12       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

be  trained  to  apply  these  principles  readily,  naturally, 
almost  instinctively.  Only  then  will  morality  have 
passed  from  his  mind  into  his  heart,  whence  it  will 
become  part  of  his  very  life.  Then  he  will  be  unable 
to  forget  it. 

From  this  very  practical  character  of  moral  edu- 
cation in  the  primary  school,  it  seems  to  me  easy  to 
formulate  rules  which  should  guide  you  in  your  choice 
of  the  means  of  teaching.  One  method  only  will  per- 
mit you  to  obtain  the  results  we  wish.  It  is  the  one 
the  Higher  Council  has  recommended  —  few  formulas, 
few  abstractions,  many  examples,  and  particularly 
examples  taken  from  life.  These  lessons  demand  a 
different  tone,  a  differerft  aspect,  from  all  others,  some- 
thing that  is  more  personal,  more  intimate,  more 
serious.  It  is  not  the  book  that  is  speaking ;  it  is  not 
even  the  functionary ;  it  is,  as  it  were,  the  father  of  a 
family,  with  all  the  sincerity  of  his  conviction  and  his 
feeling. 

Does  this  mean  that  you  will  be  asked  to  launch  out 
into  a  sort  of  perpetual  improvisation,  without  in- 
spiration and  support  from  outside.^  No,  far  from  it. 
Philosophers  and  publicists,  several  of  whom  are 
among  the  greatest  authorities  of  our  time  and  country, 
have  considered  it  an  honor  to  become  your  collabora- 
tors. They  have  put  at  your  disposal  the  finest  and 
most  valuable  of  their  teachings.  For  the  last  few 
months  we  have  seen  the  number  of  textbooks  on  moral 
and  civic  instruction  grow  almost  week  by  week. 
Nothing  proves  better  than  this  the  value  public 
opinion  attaches  to  thorough  moral  training  in  the 
primary  school.     Instruction  in  morality  by  laymen 


JULES  FERRY  13 

is  not  deemed  impossible  or  useless,  since  the  measure 
passed  by  our  legislators  has  instantly  awakened  so 
powerful  an  echo  throughout  the  country. 

Here,  however,  it  is  important  to  distinguish  more 
clearly  between  what  is  essential  and  what  is  accessory, 
between  the  moral  teaching  that  is  obligatory  and  the 
method  of  teaching  which  is  not  prescribed.  Some 
persons  not  conversant  with  modern  pedagogy  might 
think  that  our  schoolbooks  on  moral  and  civic  in- 
struction were  to  be  a  sort  of  new  catechism,  but  this 
is  an  erro'-  into  which  neither  you  nor  your  colleagues 
could  have  fallen.  You  know  too  well  that  with  the 
system  of  free  and  open  competition,  which  edu- 
cational publications  universally  enjoy,  no  book  is 
imposed  by  fiat  of  the  educational  authorities.  Like 
all  the  other  books  you  use,  yea,  even  more  than  these, 
the  textbook  on  moral  instruction  is  a  manual  and 
nothing  more,  an  instrument  which  you  utilize  without 
becoming  a  slave  to  it. 
Ijr~  In  all  three  of  your  classes,  it  is  yoiu*  influence  which 
\  is  important,  not  that  of  the  text.  The  book  should 
not  come  between  your  pupils  and  you,  chilling  your 
words,  dulling  the  impression  on  the  minds  of  your 
pupils,  reducing  you  to  the  role  of  a  mere  drill  master 
of  moral  theory.  Remember,  the  book  is  made  for 
you,  and  not  you  for  the  book.  It  is  your  adviser  and 
guide,  but  you  are  to  remain  above  all  the  guide  and 
adviser  of  your  pupils. 

In  order  to  furnish  you  every  means  for  enriching 
your  teaching  with  material  drawn  from  the  best 
works  and  to  prevent  you  from  being  restricted  to  any 
particular  text,  I  am  sending  you  the  complete  list 


14       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  ICEALS  OF  TODAY 

of  treatises  on  moral  and  civic  instruction  adopted 
this  year  by  the  teachers  in  the  different  academies. 
The  pedagogical  library  of  the  principal  town  in  each 
canton  will  receive  these  treatises  from  the  ministry, 
if  it  does  not  already  possess  them,  and  will  put  them 
at  your  disposal.  After  examining  them  you  are 
free  either  to  choose  one  of  these  works  and  make  it 
one  of  the  regular  readers  of  the  class,  or  else  to  com- 
bine the  use  of  several  of  these  texts,  all  selected,  of 
course,  from  the  general  list  inclosed;  or  again  you 
may  reserve  the  right  to  choose  extracts  from  dif- 
ferent authors  to  be  read,  dictated,  or  learned.  It  is 
but  just  that  you  should  have  in  this  matter  as  much 
liberty  as  you  have  responsibility.  But  whichever 
solution  you  prefer,  I  cannot  too  often  impress  this  on 
your  mind :  Let  it  be  understood  that  you  place  your 
self-respect,  your  honor,  not  in  the  introduction  of 
this  or  that  book,  but  in  causing  the  practical  teach- 
ing of  good  rules  of  conduct  and  worthy  sentiments 
to  penetrate  profoundly  the  rising  generation. 

It  depends  upon  you,  I  am  convinced,  by  your 
method  of  procedure,  to  hasten  the  moment  when  this 
teaching  will  be  not  only  accepted,  but  appreciated, 
honored,  and  loved,  as  it  deserves.  The  very  people 
whose  anxiety  certain  persons  have  sought  to  arouse, 
will  not  long  remain  blind  to  what  is  taking  place 
before  their  very  eyes.  When  they  have  seen  you 
at  work,  when  they  find  out  that  you  have  no  secret 
intention,  that  you  are  trying  merely  to  give  them 
back  their  children  better  educated  and  better,  when 
they  notice  that  your  lessons  begin  to  take  effect,  that 
their  children  come  from  your  class  with  better  habits, 


JULES  FERRY  15 

gentler  and  more  respectful  manners,  more  upright- 
ness, more  obedience,  a  greater  liking  for  work,  greater 
submission  to  duty,  in  short  with  all  the  signs  of  a 
constant  moral  uplift,  then  the  cause  of  the  secular 
school  will  be  won,  the  good  sense  of  the  father  and  the 
heart  of  the  mother  will  not  be  deceived.  They  will 
not  need  to  be  taught  the  esteem,  the  confidence,  and 
the  gratitude  they  owe  you. 

I  have  tried  to  give  you  as  precise  an  idea  as  possible 
of  the  newer  and  more  subtle  aspects  of  your  task. 
Permit  me  to  add  that  these  will  also  bring  you  the 
most  peculiar  and  enduring  satisfaction.  I  should  be 
happy  if  I  had  succeeded  through  this  letter  in  showing 
you  all  the  importance  the  government  of  the  Re- 
public attaches  to  it,  and  if  I  had  inspired  you  to  re- 
double your  efforts  in  order  to  prepare  a  generation 
of  good  citizens  for  our  country. 

OUR  NEED  OF  EDUCATORS  ^ 

To  those  of  you  in  my  audience  who  direct  normal 
schools,  I  desire  to  say,  before  leaving,  what  is  as- 
suredly in  your  minds,  what  is  in  your  hearts,  what 
you  know  and  feel  as  I  do,  and  what  nevertheless  you 
should  be  told  by  one  who  at  the  present  moment  has 
the  supreme  honor  of  directing  the  education  of  the 
nation.  What  we  expect  of  you,  the  lofty  end  for 
which  we  appeal  to  your  zeal,  to  all  your  generous 
desire  for  progress  and  light,  is  this :  We  wish  you  to 
provide  us  not  only  with  teachers  but  with  educators ! 
We  wish  that  the  type  of  teacher  criticized  so  keenly 

^  Extract  from  an  address  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Socikes  Savantes, 
at  the  Sorbonne,  April  2,  1880. 


16       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

a  few  years  ago  by  M.  Michel  Breal,  in  a  fine  book 
which  you  have  all  read  —  the  teacher  who,  he  says, 
"is  less  like  a  teacher  than  a  subordinate  officer  in  a 
training  camp,  the  teacher  who  exists  in  spite  of  the 
great  progress  we  have  been  making  for  the  last  ten 
years"  —  we  wish  that  thanks  to  you.  Gentlemen, 
this  type  should  completely  disappear. 

We  want  educators.  Good  heavens !  is  this  then 
too  ambitious  .f*  Is  this  a  Utopia  of  which  we  are 
dreaming?  Will  it  continue  to  be  said  that  in  order 
to  be  an  educator  one  must  assume  a  certain  char- 
acter, wear  a  certain  garb,  and  that  there  are  no  lay 
educators  ?     Ah  !  Gentlemen,  that  is  not  possible  ! 

And  you  shall  see  that  it  is  not  true.  In  proof 
thereof  I  need  only  cite  the  present  tendency  of  peda- 
gogical science,  the  new  methods  which  are  being  de- 
veloped and  are  beginning  to  spread  abroad  and  to 
triumph.  Those  methods  no  longer  dictate  the  rule 
to  the  child  like  a  decree  but  make  him  discover  it  for 
himself;  propose  first  of  all  to  excite  and  awaken  the 
child's  spontaneity,  to  watch  over  and  guide  his  normal 
development,  instead  of  imprisoning  him  in  ready- 
made  rules  which  he  does  not  in  the  least  understand, 
instead  of  hemming  him  about  with  formulse  which 
only  weary  him  and  whose  sole  result  is  to  fill  his 
little  head  with  vague  and  ponderous  notions.  Those 
methods  of  Froebel  and  Pestalozzi  which  you  apply 
every  day  are  practicable  only  on  one  condition; 
namely,  that  the  master,  the  teacher,  enter  into  inti- 
mate and  constant  relations  w^th  the  pupil.  Can 
object  lessons  be  properly  taught  unless  there  is  a 
profound  sympathy  and  a  real  love  for  the  child? 


JULES  FERRY  17 

With  the  textbooks  and  the  old  methods  one  could 
dispense  with  these  sentiments  and  this  constant  self- 
sacrifice;  but  in  applying  the  new  methods,  those 
stimuli  of  thought,  in  order  to  give  real  object  lessons 
that  are  intelligent  and  worth  while,  one  must  labor 
earnestly,  one  must  put  one's  whole  heart  into  it.  In 
short,  one  must  control  through  humanity  rather 
than  the  rod;  and  when  the  human  side  appears, 
there  is  the  educator. 

All  this  constitutes  so  great  and  so  beautiful  a  work 
that  it  seems  to  me,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  so, 
that  to  perfgrm  the  high  functions  of  a  normal  school 
principal  there  can  never  be  too  much  knowledge  in  a 
well-organized  mind,  never  too  much  grandeur  in  a 
teacher's  character,  never  in  a  well-born  heart  too 
much  love,  too  much  devotion,  too  much  passion  for 
the  good  and  for  progress.  You  can  justly  say  to 
yourselves  that  you  are  performing  one  of  the  grandest 
and  most  holy  functions  of  society.  You  are  training 
educators.  It  is  a  greater  work,  I  dare  affirm,  than 
training  doctors  or  officers.  Can  you  conceive  a 
nobler  and  a  surer  means  of  contributing  to  the  re- 
building and  the  greatness  of  the  nation  ? 

PROGRAM  FOR  ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  ^ 
I.   Physical  Education 

1.     PURPOSE   OF   PHYSICAL   EDUCATION 

Physical  education  has  a  double  aim :  on  the  one 
hand,  to  strengthen  the  child's  body,  give  firmness 

*  Official  program  of  the  lower  primary  schools. 


18      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

to  his  constitution,  and  place  him  in  conditions  hy- 
gienically  most  favorable  to  his  general  development; 
on  the  other  hand,  to  give  him  early  in  life  that  adroit- 
ness, agility,  and  manual  dexterity,  that  promptness 
and  sureness  of  movement,  w^^>^  invaluable  for  all, 
are  particularly  necessary  for  pupils  of  the  primary 
schools,  the  majority  of  whom  will  be  compelled  to 
work  with  their  hands. 

Without  losing  its  essential  character  as  an  edu- 
cational institution  and  without  transforming  itself 
into  a  workshop,  the  primary  scl  .  can  and  ought 
to  give  this  instruction  sufficient  attention  so  as  to 
prepare  and,  in  a  certain  way,  to  predispose  the  boy 
to  his  future  work  as  an  artisan  or  soldier,  and  the  girl 
to  housework  and  to  woman's  work  in  general. 

2.     METHOD 

Since  bodily  exercise  is  a  diversion  from  scholastic 
work  and  the  regular  lessons,  it  will  usually  be  a  simple 
matter  to  have  the  children  take  it  up  happily  and  en- 
thusiastically, to  make  them  consider  it  a  real  recrea- 
tion. 

The  course  of  teaching  is  regulated  in  great  detail 
in  the  manuals  published  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Ministry,  as  well  as  in  the  directions  given  by  special 
teachers  and  instructors. 

The  work  in  manual  training  for  boys  is  divided  into 
two  parts :  one  comprises  various  exercises  for  giving 
suppleness  and  dexterity  to  the  fingers,  rapidity  and 
precision  to  the  movements;  the  other  comprises 
graded  exercises  in  modeling   which  serve  to  supple- 


JULES  FERRY  19 

ment  the  corresponding  study  of  drawing,  particularly 
of  mechanical  drawing. 

Manual  training  for  girls,  besides  the  work  in  sewing 
and  cutting,  allows  for  a  certain  number  of  lessons, 
suggestive  talks,  ar'^'"^Yercises  in  which  the  teacher 
will  aini>  not  to  gi^e  a  regular  course  in  domestic 
econoniy,  but  to  inspire  the  girls  with  a  love  of  order  by 
means  of  numerous  practical  examples,  to  make  them 
acquire  the  serious  qualities  of  the  housewife,  and  to 
put  them  on  their  guard  against  frivolous  or  dangerous 
tendencies.  (oou*> 

<^ 
n.  Intellectual  Education 

1.    PURPOSE 

It  is  easy  to  characterize  the  type  of  intellectual  edu- 
cation which  is  given  by  the  primary  school.  It  gives 
but  a  limited  amount  of  learning,  but  this  learning  is 
so  chosen  that  not  only  does  it  provide  the  child  with 
all  the  practical  knowledge  he  will  need  through  life, 
but  it  acts  upon  his  faculties,  forms,  cultivates,  and 
broadens  his  mind,  and  constitutes  a  real  education. 

The  ideal  of  the  primary  school  is  not  to  teach  much, 
but  to  teach  well.  The  child  leaves  it  knowing  little, 
but  he  knows  that  little  well;  the  instruction  he  has 
received  is  limited,  but  not  superficial.  It  is  not  a 
half-instruction,  and  he  who  possesses  it  is  not  a  half- 
scholar;  for  what  makes  instruction  complete  or  in- 
complete is  not  the  greater  or  less  extent  of  the  domain 
it  cultivates,  but  rather  the  manner  of  cultivating  it. 

On  account  of  the  age  of  the  pupils  and  their  probable 
future  careers,  primary  education  has  neither  the  time 


20      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

nor  the  means  to  cover  a  cycle  of  studies  equal  to  that 
of  secondary  education.  What  it  can  do  for  its  pupils 
is  to  make  their  studies  profit  them  in  the  same  way, 
and  in  a  humbler  sphere  to  render  them  the  same  serv- 
ices that  secondary  studies  afford  the  pupils  in  the 
lycees ;  for  both  carry  away  from  the  public  school 
a  sum  total  of  knowledge  adapted  to  their  future 
needs,  and,  what  is  more  important  still,  good  habits 
of  mind,  an  open,  wide-awake  intelligence,  with  clear 
ideas,  good  judgment,  and  reflective  power,  together 
with  order  and  accuracy  in  thought  and  language. 
"The  object  of  primary  teaching,"  as  has  very  justly 
been  said,^  "is  not  to  include  all  it  is  possible  to  know 
about  the  various  subjects  of  instruction,  but  to  teach 
well  in  each  one  of  them  that  of  which  a  person  may 
not  be  ignorant." 

2.     METHOD 

The  object  being  thus  defined,  the  method  to  be 
used  necessarily  follows.  It  cannot  consist  either  in  a 
series  of  mechanical  processes  or  in  mere  apprentice- 
ship in  the  elements  of  communication,  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic ;  nor  yet  in  a  dull  succession  of  lessons 
which  set  before  the  pupils  different  chapters  in  a 
course  of  study. 

The  only  method  that  befits  primary  instruction 
is  the  one  which  makes  teacher  and  pupils  participate 
in  turn,  and  which  encourages  a  continual  interchange 
of  ideas  in  forms  that  are  varied,  flexible,  and  ingen- 
iously graded.     The  teacher  should  always  start  with 

^  Gbeard,  Rapport  aur  la  tituation  de  Censeignement  primaire  de  la  Seine, 
1875. 


JULES  FERRY  21 

what  the  children  know,  and  then,  proceeding  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown,  from  the  easy  to  the  diflScult, 
should  lead  them  by  a  logical  succession  of  oral  ques- 
tions or  written  exercises  to  discover  the  consequences 
of  a  principle,  the  applications  of  a  rule,  or,  inversely, 
the  principles  and  the  rules  which  they  have  already 
unconsciously  applied. 

In  all  his  instruction  the  teacher  should  begin  by 
making  use  of  material  objects,  should  have  the  chil- 
dren see  and  handle  them,  and  should  bring  the  children 
face  to  face  with  concrete  realities.  Then,  little  by 
little,  he  trains  them  to  segregate  the  abstract  idea,  to 
compare,  to  generalize,  and  to  reason  without  the  help 
of  material  examples. 

It  is,  therefore,  by  constant  appeal  to  the  attention, 
the  judgment,  and  the  intellectual  spontaneity  of  the 
pupil  that  primary  teaching  can  maintain  itself.  Pri- 
mary teaching  is  essentially  intuitive  and  practical; 
intuitive,  that  is  to  say,  it  depends  first  of  all  on  natural 
good  sense  and  on  that  innate  power  possessed  by  the 
human  mind  to  grasp  at  first  glance  and  without 
demonstration,  not  all  truths,  to  be  sure,  but  the 
simplest  and  most  fundamental  truths.  Primary 
education  is  practical,  in  that  it  never  loses  sight  of 
the  fact  that  the  pupils  of  the  primary  school  have  no 
time  to  lose  in  idle  discussions,  in  learned  theories,  or 
in  scholastic  curiosities,  and  that  five  or  six  years  in 
school  are  not  too  much  to  provide  them  with  the  little 
store  of  ideas  which  they  absolutely  need  and  to  put 
them  in  a  position  to  preserve  and  enlarge  it  in  after 
life. 

It  is  upon  these  conditions  that  primary  instruction 


22       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

can  undertake  the  education  and  cultivation  of  the 
mind.  Nature  alone,  so  to  speak,  guides  it;  it  de- 
velops simultaneously  the  varied  faculties  of  the  in- 
telligence by  the  only  means  at  its  disposal  —  in  other 
words,  by  training  them  in  a  simple,  spontaneous,  al- 
most instinctive  way.  It  develops  the  judgment  by 
leading  the  child  to  judge,  the  spirit  of  observation  by 
making  him  observe,  the  reason  by  helping  him  to 
reason  for  himself  and  without  dependence  upon 
logical  rules. 

This  confidence  in  the  natural  forces  of  the  mind 
and  this  absence  of  all  pretension  to  science  properly 
speaking  befits  all  rudimentary  instruction;  but  it  is 
especially  applicable  to  the  primary  school,  which 
must  influence  the  child  population  as  a  whole  rather 
than  a  few  children  taken  individually.  Teaching 
here  is  necessarily  collective  and  based  upon  a  class 
system.  The  teacher  cannot  devote  himself  to  a  few ; 
he  is  responsible  for  all.  It  is  by  the  results  obtained 
in  his  whole  class,  and  not  by  the  attainment  of  the 
best,  that  his  pedagogical  work  should  be  judged. 
Whatever  be  the  intellectual  inequalities  of  his  pupils, 
there  is  a  minimum  of  knowledge  and  attainment  that 
the  primary  school  must  impart,  with  very  rare  ex- 
ceptions, to  all  its  pupils  alike.  Some  will  easily  rise 
above  this  level,  but  even  so,  if  it  is  not  attained  by 
the  rest  of  the  class,  the  teacher  has  not  appreciated 
his  task,  or  at  any  rate  he  has  not  entirely  accom- 
plished it. 


JULES  FERRY  23 

III.   Moral  Education 

1.     PURPOSE 

Moral  instruction  differs  fundamentally  in  aim  and 
character  from  the  other  two  divisions  of  the  program. 

Aim  and  essential  characteristics  of  this  instruction. 
Moral  instruction  is  intended  to  complete  and  bind 
together,  to  elevate  and  to  ennoble  all  the  other  in- 
struction in  the  school.  While  each  of  the  other 
branches  tends  to  develop  a  special  order  of  aptitudes 
or  of  useful  knowledge,  this  study  tends  to  develop 
the  man  himself  —  that  is  to  say,  his  heart,  his  in- 
telligence, his  conscience.  Hence  moral  instruction 
moves  in  an  altogether  different  sphere  from  the  other 
subjects.  Its  force  depends  far  less  upon  the  pre- 
cision and  the  logical  relation  of  the  truths  taught 
than  upon  the  intensity  of  feeling,  the  vividness  of  im- 
pression, and  the  contagious  ardor  of  conviction  en- 
gendered. 

The  aim  of  this  education  is  not  to  make  children 
know,  but  to  make  them  will;  it  arouses  rather  than 
demonstrates.  Compelled  to  act  upon  the  emotional 
nature,  it  proceeds  more  from  feeling  than  from  reason- 
ing. It  does  not  attempt  to  analyze  all  the  reasons 
for  a  moral  act.  It  seeks  first  of  all  to  produce  a  moral 
act,  to  cause  it  to  recur,  to  make  it  habitual  so  that 
it  shall  dominate  life.  In  the  primary  school  it  is  not 
a  science,  it  is  an  art  —  the  art  of  inclining  the  free 
will  toward  the  good. 

The  rSle  of  the  teacher.  In  respect  to  this  subject 
as  to  the  other  branches  of  education,  the  teacher  is 


24      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

regarded  as  the  representative  of  society.  It  is  of  the 
highest  importance  to  a  democratic  secular  society 
that  all  its  members  should  be  initiated  early,  and  by 
lessons  which  cannot  be  effaced,  into  a  feeling  of  their 
dignity,  and  into  a  feeling  not  less  deep  of  their  duty 
and  of  their  personal  responsibility.  To  attain  this 
end  the  teacher  is  not  to  proceed  as  if  he  were  ad- 
dressing children  destitute  of  all  previous  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil;  he  should  remember  that  the  great 
majority  of  them  have  received  or  are  receiving  a 
religious  instruction  which  familiarizes  them  with  the 
idea  of  a  God  of  the  universe  and  a  Father  of  men, 
with  the  traditions,  the  beliefs,  the  practices  of  a  wor- 
ship, either  Christian  or  Jewish;  that  they  have  al- 
ready received  the  fundamental  ideas  of  a  morality, 
eternal  and  universal.  These  notions,  however,  are 
still  in  a  state  of  the  nascent  and  fragile  germ;  they 
have  not  yet  profoundly  penetrated  the  child's  exist- 
ence ;  they  are  fleeting,  unstable,  and  confused,  rather 
glimpsed  than  possessed,  confided  to  the  memory  more 
than  to  the  conscience,  which  as  yet  is  scarcely  de- 
veloped. These  ideas  are  still  wdth  them  in  the  germ. 
They  await  ripening  and  developing  by  appropriate 
culture,  and  this  culture  remains  for  the  teacher  to 
give. 

His  mission  is  therefore  limited.  He  is  to  strengthen, 
to  root  into  the  minds  of  his  pupils,  for  all  their  lives, 
through  daily  practice  those  essential  notions  of  a 
morality  common  to  all  civilized  men.  He  can  do 
this  without  making  personal  reference  to  any  of  the 
religious  beliefs  with  which  his  pupils  associate  and 
blend  the  general  principles  of  morals. 


JULES  FERRY  25 

He  takes  the  children  as  they  come  to  him  with  their 
ideas  and  their  language,  with  the  beliefs  which  they 
have  derived  from  their  parents,  and  his  only  care  is 
to  teach  them  to  draw  from  these  that  which  is  most 
precious  from  the  social  standpoint ;  namely,  the  pre- 
cepts of  a  high  morality. 

Peculiar  purpose  and  limits  of  this  teaching.  The 
moral  teaching  of  the  school  is,  then,  distinguished 
from  religious  instruction  without  running  counter  to 
it.  The  teacher  is  neither  a  priest  nor  the  father  of  a 
family;  he  joins  his  efforts  to  theirs  to  make  each 
child  an  honest  man.  He  should  insist  upon  the  duties 
which  bring  men  together,  and  not  upon  the  dogmas 
which  separate  them.  All  theological  and  philo- 
sophical discussion  is  manifestly  forbidden  him  by 
the  very  character  of  his  functions,  by  the  age  of  his 
pupils,  and  by  the  confidence  of  their  families  and  of 
the  State.  He  is  to  concentrate  all  his  efforts  upon 
a  problem  of  another  nature,  but  one  which  is  not  less 
arduous,  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is  exclusively 
practical.  He  should  aim  to  make  all  the  children 
serve  an  effective  apprenticeship  to  a  moral  life. 

Later  in  life  they  will  perhaps  become  separated 
by  dogmatic  opinion,  but  they  will  be  in  accord  in 
having  the  aim  of  life  as  high  as  possible;  in  having 
the  same  horror  for  what  is  base  and  vile;  the  same 
delicacy  in  the  appreciation  of  duty;  in  aspiring  to 
moral  perfection,  whatever  effort  it  may  cost;  in 
feeling  united  in  that  fealty  to  the  good,  the  beautiful, 
and  the  true,  which  is  also  a  form,  and  not  the  least 
pure,  of  the  religious  sentiment. 


26   FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 
2.  METHOD 

By  his  character,  his  conduct,  his  example,  the 
teacher  should  be  the  most  persuasive  of  examples. 
In  moral  instruction  what  does  not  come  from  the 
heart  does  not  reach  the  heart.  A  teacher  who  recites 
precepts,  who  speaks  of  duty  without  convictions, 
without  warmth,  does  much  worse  than  waste  his 
efforts.  He  is  altogether  wrong.  A  course  of  morals 
which  is  regular,  but  cold,  commonplace,  dry,  does 
not  teach  morals,  because  it  does  not  develop  a  love 
for  the  subject.  The  simplest  recital  in  which  the 
child  can  catch  an  accent  of  gravity,  a  single  sincere 
word,  is  worth  more  than  a  long  succession  of  me- 
chanical lessons. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  the 
teacher  should  carefully  avoid  any  reflection  either  by 
language  or  expression  upon  the  religious  beliefs  of  the 
children  confided  to  his  care,  anything  that  might 
betray  on  his  part  any  lack  of  respect  or  of  regard  for 
the  opinions  of  others. 

The  only  obligation  imposed  upon  the  teacher,  and 
this  is  compatible  with  a  respect  for  all  convictions, 
is  to  watch  in  a  practical  and  paternal  manner  the 
moral  development  of  his  pupils  with  the  same  solici- 
tude with  which  he  follows  their  progress  in  scholar- 
ship. He  should  not  believe  himself  free  from  re- 
sponsibilities toward  any  of  them  if  he  has  not  done 
as  much  for  the  education  of  character  as  for  that  of 
the  intellect.  At  this  price  alone  will  the  teacher 
have  merited  the  title  of  educator,  and  elementary 
instruction  the  name  of  liberal  education. 


JULES  FERRY  27 

MORAL  EDUCATION 

The  Program  1 

Infant  section:  Ages  5  to  7  years.  Very  simple  talks  mingled 
with  all  the  exercises  of  the  class  and  of  recreation.  Simple  poems 
explained  and  learned  by  heart.  Simple  stories  with  a  moral,  re- 
lated and  followed  by  questions  calculated  to  bring  out  their  sense 
and  ascertain  if  the  children  have  understood  them.  Simple 
songs. 

Special  care  should  be  given  by  the  teacher  to  those  children  in 
whom  she  has  observed  any  defect  in  character  or  any  vicious 
tendency. 

Primary  section :  Ages  7  to  9  years.  Familiar  talks.  Readings 
with  explanations  (stories,  examples,  precepts,  parables,  and  fables). 
Teaching  through  the  emotions. 

Practical  exercises  tending  toward  application  of  the  moral 
training  in  the  class  itself  : 

1.  By  observation  of  individual  character  (taking  account  of 
the  predispositions  of  the  children  to  correct  their  defects  or  to 
develop  their  good  qualities). 

2.  By  intelligent  application  of  school  discipline  as  a  means  of 
education.  (Distinguish  carefully  neglect  of  sense  of  duty  from 
simple  infraction  of  rules;  show  clearly  the  connection  between 
the  fault  and  its  punishment;  illustrate  a  scrupulous  spirit  of 
impartiality  in  the  government  of  the  class;  inspire  a  horror  of 
tale-bearing,  dissimulation,  and  hypocrisy;  put  candor  and  up- 
rightness above  all  else,  and  therefore  never  discourage  frank 
speaking  on  the  children's  part,  or  refuse  to  listen  to  their  com- 
plaints or  their  requests.) 

3.  By  constant  appeal  to  the  feelings  and  moral  judgment  of 
the  child  himself.  (Frequently  make  the  children  judges  of  their 
own  conduct,  especially  by  having  them  evaluate  moral  and  in- 
tellectual effort  in  themselves  and  in  others ;  allow  them  to  speak 
and  act  for  themselves,  but  subsequently  make  them  discover  for 
themselves  their  errors  or  their  faults.) 

4.  By   correcting   vulgar   notions    (popular   superstitions   and 

*  Extract  from  the  official  program  of  the  lower  primary  schools. 


28      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

prejudices,  belief  in  witchcraft,  in  ghosts,  in  the  influence  of  certain 
numbers,  foolish  fears,  etc.). 

5.  By  instruction  dra^Ti  from  facts  observed  by  the  children 
themselves.  It  is  advisable  at  times  to  make  them  feel  the  sad 
consequences  of  the  vices  they  sometimes  have  under  their  eyes : 
drunkenness,  laziness,  disorder,  cruelty,  brutal  appetites,  etc., 
while  inspiring  in  them  as  much  compassion  for  the  victims  of  the 
evil  as  horror  of  the  evil  itself.  It  is  also  advisable  to  proceed  in 
the  same  way,  through  concrete  examples  and  appeals  to  the  im- 
mediate experience  of  the  children,  in  order  to  initiate  them  into 
the  moral  emotions,  to  develop  in  them,  for  instance,  the  feeling 
of  admiration  for  the  order  of  the  universe  and  of  religious  feeling 
by  making  them  contemplate  some  great  natural  scenery.  It  is 
further  advisable  to  stimulate  their  charitable  impulses  by  calling 
their  attention  to  a  misfortune  to  be  relieved  and  giving  them  the 
opportunity  of  performing  a  practical  act  of  charity  discreetly; 
and  to  arouse  in  them  the  feeling  of  gratitude  and  sympathy  by  the 
narration  of  an  act  of  courage,  by  a  visit  to  a  charitable  institution, 
etc. 

Intermediate  section:  Ages  9  to  11  years.  Talks,  reading  and 
interpretation,  practical  exercises.  The  same  type  and  means  of 
teaching  as  before,  save  that  instruction  becomes  somewhat  more 
methodical  and  precise.  Coordination  of  lessons  and  readings  so 
as  to  omit  no  important  point  in  the  program  below : 

I.    (a)  The  child  in  the  family;     duties  toward   parents   and 

grandparents :     obedience,    respect,   love,   gratitude. 

Help  the  parents  in  their  work ;    relieve  them  in  their 

illness ;    come  to  their  aid  in  old  age. 
(6)  Duties   of   brothers   and   sisters :     Love   one   another ; 

protection   of   the   younger   children   by   the   older; 

responsibilitj^  for  setting  a  good  example, 
(c)  Duties  toward  servants :   Treat  them  politely  and  with 

kindness. 
{d)  Duties   of  the   child   at  school:    Regular  attendance, 

obedience,    industry,    civility.     Duties    toward    the 

teacher ;  duties  toward  comrades, 
(e)  The  fatherland :     France,  her  greatness  and  her  mis- 


JULES  FERRY  29 

fortune.     Duties  toward  the  fatherland  and  toward 
society. 
n.    (a)  Duties  toward  oneself:     Care  of  the  body,  cleanliness, 
sobriety,   and  temperance.     Dangers  of  alcoholism: 
weakening  of  the  intelligence  and  of  the  will;    ruin 
of  the  health.     Gymnastics. 
(6)  Material   goods:     Economy,   avoidance   of   debt,   evil 
effects  of  the  passion  for  gambling;     duty  to  avoid 
immoderate  desire  for  money  and  gain ;    prodigality ; 
avarice.     Work  (economy  of  time;  obligation  of  all 
men  to  work ;    nobility  of  manual  labor), 
(c)  The  soul :    Veracity  and  sincerity ;    never  lie.     Personal 
dignity,  self-respect.     Modesty;    recognition  of  one's 
own  faults.     Evils  of  pride,  vanity,  coquetry,  frivolity. 
Shame  of  ignorance  and  sloth.     Courage  in  danger  and 
misfortune ;  patience,  spirit  of  initiative.     Dangers  of 
rage. 
{d)  Treat  animals  with  gentleness.     Do  not  let  them  suffer 
uselessly.     The  Grammont  law ;  societies  for  the  pro- 
tection of  animals, 
(e)  Duties  toward  others :    Justice  and  charity ;  the  Golden 
Rule.     Never   injure   the   life,   person,   property,   or 
reputation     of     another.       Kindness,     brotherhood. 
Tolerance,  respect  for  the  beliefs  of  others.     Little 
by  little  alcoholism  entails  the  violation  of  all  duties 
toward  others  (laziness,  violence,  etc.). 
(Note.    In  this  whole  course  the  teacher  should  assume  the 
existence  of  conscience,  of  the  moral  law,  and  of  moral  obligation ; 
he  should  appeal  to  the  feeling  and   idea  of  responsibility.     He 
does  not  undertake  to  demonstrate   any  of  these  by  theoretical 
exposition.) 

in.  Duties  toward  God :  The  teacher  is  not  required  to  give 
a  course  ex  professo  on  the  nature  and  attributes  of  God.  The 
instruction  which  he  should  give  to  all  without  distinction  is  limited 
to  two  points : 

First,  he  teaches  his  pupils  not  to  speak  the  name  of  God  thought- 
lessly.    He  clearly  associates  in  their  minds  a  feeling  of  respect 


30       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

and  veneration  for  the  First  Cause  and  the  Perfect  Being ;  and  he 
accustoms  each  one  to  surround  the  idea  of  God  with  the  same  re- 
spect even  when  it  is  presented  to  him  in  a  form  different  from  that 
of  his  own  rehgion. 

Then,  and  without  paj^ng  attention  to  the  ordinances  peculiar 
to  the  different  religious  beliefs,  the  teacher  endeavors  to  make  the 
child  understand  and  feel  that  the  first  homage  he  owes  the  Divinity 
is  obedience  to  the  laws  of  God  revealed  to  him  by  his  conscience 
and  his  reason. 

Higher  section:  Ages  11  to  13  years.  Talks,  readings,  practical 
exercises  as  in  the  two  preceding  sections.  This  course  comprises, 
besides  a  regular  series  of  lessons  whose  number  and  order  may 
vary,  elementary  instruction  in  ethics  in  general  and  more  es- 
pecially of  one's  duty  toward  society,  according  to  the  program 
below : 

I.  The  family :  Duties  of  parents  and  of  children ;  reciprocal 
duties  of  masters  and  servants ;    the  family  spirit. 

n.  Society :  Necessity  and  benefits  of  society.  Justice,  the 
condition  of  all  society.  Solidarity  and  human  brotherhood.  Al- 
coholism destroys  these  sentiments  little  by  little  by  destroying 
the  mainspring  of  will  and  of  personal  responsibility. 

Applications  and  development  of  the  idea  of  justice:  respect 
for  human  life  and  liberty ;  respect  for  property ;  respect  for  the 
pledged  word;  respect  for  the  honor  and  reputation  of  others. 
Probity,  equity,  loyalty,  delicacy.  Respect  for  the  opinions  and 
beliefs  of  others.  ^ 

Applications  and  development  of  the  idea  of  love  or  brother- 
hood. Its  varying  degrees;  duties  of  benevolence,  gratitude, 
tolerance,  mercy,  etc.  Self-sacrifice,  the  highest  form  of  love; 
show  that  it  can  find  a  place  in  everyday  life. 

in.  The  fatherland:  What  a  man  owes  his  country:  obedi- 
ence to  law,  military  service,  discipline,  devotion,  fidelity  to  the 
flag.  Taxes  (condemnation  of  fraud  toward  the  State).  The 
ballot :  a  moral  obligation,  wliich  should  be  free,  conscientious, 
disinterested,  enlightened.  Rights  wliich  correspond  to  these 
duties :  personal  freedom,  liberty  of  conscience,  freedom  of  con- 
tract and  the  right  to  work,  right  to  organize.     Guarantee  of  the 


JULES  FERRY  31 

security  of  life  and  property  to  all.  National  sovereignty.  Ex- 
planation of  the  motto  of  the  Republic :  Liberty,  Equality,  Fra- 
ternity. 

Under  each  of  these  heads  in  the  course  in  social  ethics,  the 
teacher  should  explain  clearly,  without  entering  into  metaphysical 
discussions : 

1.  The  difference  between  duty  and  self-interest  even  when  the 
two  seem  to  be  identified  —  that  is  to  say,  the  imperative  and  dis- 
interested nature  of  duty. 

2.  The  distinction  between  the  written  and  the  moral  law; 
the  one  fixes  a  minimum  number  of  prescriptions  which  society 
imposes  under  penalty  on  all  its  members ;  the  other  imposes  on 
each  one  in  the  secret  of  his  conscience  a  duty  which  no  one  con- 
strains him  to  fulfill,  but  in  which  he  cannot  fail  without  feeling  a 
sense  of  wrong  toward  himself  and  toward  God. 


OCTAVE  GREARD 

Octave  Gr^ard  (1828-1904),  writer  and  administrator.  After 
reorganizing  the  system  of  primary  instruction  of  the  city  of  Paris, 
he  was  called  by  Jules  Ferry  to  one  of  the  highest  educational 
positions  in  France,  that  of  vice-rector  of  the  University  of  Paris, 
a  position  which  he  filled  with  distinction  for  twenty-three  years. 
As  chairman  of  almost  all  the  commissions  appointed  by  the 
Ministry,  he  exerted  an  uninterrupted  influence  over  teaching  in 
all  its  stages  and  had  a  dominant  share  in  all  the  educational  work 
of  the  Third  Republic.  Jules  Ferry  expressed  the  general  senti- 
ment of  French  educators  when  he  called  Greard  "the  first  school- 
master of  France." 

NEW  METHODS  IN  THE  PARIS   PRIMARY 
SCHOOLS ' 

The  time  is  past  when  reading,  writing,  and  "counter 
and  pen  reckoning,"  to  use  the  traditional  expression, 
together  with  the  catechism,  constituted  the  whole 
program  of  primary  instruction.  When  the  life  of 
the  city  or  country  workman  was  embraced  within 
a  very  limited  circle  of  needs,  to  decipher  a  few  words 
of  print  or  manuscript  was  a  distinction,  to  sign  one's 
name  a  mark  of  superiority.  If  one  casts  a  glance 
over  the  signatures  in  the  marriage  records  and  the 
contracts  which  are  cited  today  as  evidence  of  the 
diffusion  of  instruction  before  1789,  one  will  easily 
gather  from  the  crude  letters  found  therein  how  rare 
were  the  occasions  for  holding  a  pen  among  those 
who  could  use  it  so  indifferently.  Today  this  ele- 
mentary knowledge  is  only  the  tool  knowledge,  as  it 
began  to  be  called  by  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury —  that  is  to  say,  knowledge  to  be  used  in  acquir- 
ing   other    knowledge.     A    new    social    organization 

*  Extract  from  Education  et  enseignement :  enseignement  primaire. 


OCTAVE  GREARD  SS 

has  created  new  necessities  in  general  education.  It 
would  be  rash,  however,  to  forget  that  the  purpose 
of  primary  instruction  is  not  to  include  all  that  it  is 
possible  to  know  about  the  diverse  subjects  it  touches, 
but  rather  to  teach  well  in  each  one  of  them  those 
facts  of  which  a  person  cannot  afford  to  be  ignorant. 
This  comprehension,  which  answers  to  the  nature 
of  things,  is  all  the  more  necessary  since  elementary 
knowledge  is  a  means  as  well  as  an  end.  It  would 
do  but  half  the  good  it  ought  to  accomplish  if  it  did 
not  primarily  serve  to  form  and  develop  in  the  child 
good  sense  apd  the  moral  sense. 

Hence,  the  method  is  almost  more  important  in 
primary  instruction  than  the  teaching  itself.  In  his 
great  project  for  language  reform,  Fenelon,  setting 
himself  over  against  the  scholars,  did  not  wish  too 
elaborate  a  grammar.  "It  seems  to  me,"  he  wrote, 
"that  it  is  necessary  to  confine  ourselves  to  a  short 
and  simple  method."  Short  and  simple,  such  in 
our  eyes  is  the  double  character  of  the  method  par- 
ticularly suited  to  primary  instruction.  Short,  not 
dull;  education  needs  subjects  in  abundance  in  order 
to  nourish  the  mind,  but  it  is  an  abundance  well  chosen, 
which  alone  is  nourishing.  Likewise  facility,  as  Fene- 
lon would  have  us  understand  it,  excludes  any  idea 
of  diffusion  or  approximation,  for  nothing  repels  the 
spirit  of  the  child  more  than  lack  of  precision.  More- 
over, Fenelon  himself  defines  the  simple  method 
which  he  recommends.  "The  great  point,"  he  says, 
"is  to  bring  a  person  to  the  study  of  things  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment." 

We  must  reject  all  exercises  that  turn  education 


34       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

aside  from  its  proper  course  under  pretext  of  raising 
the  standard :  models  of  complicated  handwriting, 
inordinately  long  lessons,  series  of  written  analyses 
and  conjugations,  ill-digested  definitions.  In  grammar 
we  must  proceed  from  example  to  rule,  ignoring  the 
subtleties  of  grammatical  scholasticism;  we  must 
make  arithmetical  exercises  practical  once  more; 
we  must  teach  geography  only  by  the  use  of  maps 
and  enliven  topographical  details  of  places  by  describ- 
ing the  natural  or  industrial  products  peculiar  to  them ; 
in  history  we  must  emphasize  only  the  essential  features 
of  the  development  of  French  nationality,  seeking 
this  less  in  a  succession  of  deeds  of  war  than  in  the 
methodical  development  of  institutions  and  in  the 
progress  of  social  ideas ;  in  a  word,  we  must  make  of 
France  what  Pascal  called  humanity,  a  great  being 
which  exists  forever.  In  this  way  we  can  give  even 
the  child  an  idea  of  the  fatherland,  of  the  duties  it 
imposes,  and  the  sacrifices  it  exacts ;  in  this  way,  too, 
we  can  hope  to  reach  the  innermost  recesses  of  his 
mind  and  leave  there,  to  be  fixed  by  the  application 
that  he  can  make  of  it,  the  essential  knowledge  on 
which  all  education  rests. 

Under  these  conditions,  the  direction  of  a  class  offers 
diflBculties,  as  we  are  well  aware.  Serious  and  clean- 
cut  explanations,  clear  definitions,  striking  examples, 
which  are  the  secret  and  the  strength  of  such  teach- 
ing, are  not  found  without  effort  and  without  prep- 
aration. Happy  improvisations  are  in  reality  only 
the  fruit  of  very  attentive  previous  study  and  of  that 
absolute  mastery  of  one's  subject  from  which  the 
striking  expression  gushes  out  as  from  a  spring.     The 


OCTAVE  GREARD  35 

spring  always  gathers  its  waters  before  pouring  them 
forth,  and  it  is  this  preparatory  work  which  constitutes 
the  worth  of  the  lessons,  and  at  the  same  time  pro- 
vides the  necessary  interest  and  charm. 

However,  the  greatest  benefit  of  this  short  and 
simple  method  is  that  it  functions  toward  the  edu- 
cation of  the  faculties  themselves. 

Pere  Girard  takes  up  arms  against  what  he  calls 
"word-machines,  writing-machines,  and  reciting-ma- 
chines"  which  the  teacher  exhibits  as  Vaucanson  ex- 
hibited his  automata.  For  the  grammar  of  words 
he  wished  to  substitute  the  grammar  of  ideas,  thereby 
compelling  the  child  to  formulate  the  rules  of  syntax, 
to  reason  about  the  terms  he  uses  and  the  forms  he 
applies.  Study  of  language  was  for  him  only  an  instru- 
ment by  the  aid  of  which,  while  teaching  the  child 
what  it  is  indispensable  to  know,  he  applied  himself 
to  train  his  judgment.  Pestalozzi  established  his 
pedagogical  doctrine  on  another  foundation,  on  a 
basis  of  practical  arithmetic.  But  for  both  alike 
the  end  was  to  give  the  child  assurance  and  an  open, 
straightforward-  mind,  while  inculcating  in  him  a 
certain  number  of  positive  notions.  This  method, 
furthermore,  is  applicable  to  all  branches  of  instruction. 

Generally  speaking,  the  success  of  primary  studies 
is  compromised  by  the  fact  that  we  rely  too  exclusively 
upon  the  memory.  Doubtless  all  teaching  should 
be  aided  by  the  memory,  but  to  be  profitable  the 
thing  remembered  must  penetrate  the  intelligence, 
which  alone  can  preserve  a  durable  imprint  of  it. 
It  would  be  almost  better  for  the  child  to  forget  what 
he   has   not   understood.     Aside   from   the   fact   that 


36       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

anything  in  the  memory  that  is  not  fully  comprehended 
is  a  useless  weight  on  the  mind,  does  it  not  often  become 
the  starting  point  of  the  most  disastrous  errors  ?  How 
many  popular  prejudices,  how  many  dangerous  the- 
ories, are  merely  ideas  that  have  been  badly  digested ! 
The  other  faculties  of  the  child  are  equally  important. 
His  imagination  and  feelings  are  no  less  spontaneous 
than  his  memory;  and  if  his  reasoning  power  is  still 
weak,  with  what  confidence  he  accepts  the  hand  that 
knows  how  to  guide  him  while  treating  him  kindly ! 

The  best  teacher  is  the  one  who  knows  how  to  put 
this  activity  at  work.  The  child  once  on  the  road, 
it  suffices  to  stimulate  him  gently,  to  bring  him  back 
if  he  goes  astray,  always  leaving  him  as  far  as  possible 
the  trouble  and  the  satisfaction  of  discovering  what 
he  is  expected  to  find.  Let  him  accustom  himself 
to  justify  every  statement  he  advances,  to  express 
himself  freely  in  his  own  language;  let  him  even 
expose  himself  to  an  error  and  make  him  correct  it. 
showing  him  wherein  he  has  reasoned  badly.  It  will 
be  the  most  profitable  of  lessons.  When  he  has  re- 
ceived this  kind  of  training  from  one  end  of  his  studies 
to  the  other,  one  can  be  sure  of  having  formed  a  good 
mind,  capable  of  methodical  and  productive  appli- 
cation in  any  field  of  endeavor. 

Indispensable  to  the  education  of  the  judgment, 
this  active  method  is  no  less  useful  in  the  education 
of  the  moral  sense.  The  child  is  generally  born  with 
right  instincts ;  there  remains  only  for  us  to  strengthen 
and  develop  them.  To  be  sure,  this  is  partly  an  affair 
of  discipline,  of  exact,  loyal,  enlightened  discipline, 
which  keeps  the  conscience  constantly  on  the  alert 


OCTAVE  GRfiARD  37 

and  exercises  the  will,  but  the  choice  of  material  in 
teaching  will  also  have  a  share  in  this  work  if  one 
knows  how  to  utilize  the  available  resources. 

Indeed,  there  is  no  study  which  does  not  lend  itself 
to  the  cultivation  of  the  feelings.  It  is  so  easy  not 
to  give  pupils  any  spelling  exercise  which  does  not 
contain  the  development  of  a  sound  ideal.  Pere 
Girard  furnishes  us  an  example  drawn  from  his  per- 
sonal experience:  "I  never  had  my  pupils  conjugate 
verbs  separately,"  he  says,  "...  but  always  in 
sentences,  since  this  is  much  more  agreeable  and  useful 
for  the  children.  I  gave  out  the  verb  in  the  infinitive, 
the  tense  and  mode  in  which  to  conjugate  it  were 
prescribed,  and  the  children  had  to  do  the  rest.  One 
day  when,  according  to  custom,  I  was  acting  as  substi- 
tute for  one  of  the  monitors,  the  idea  came  to  me  to 
have  the  pupils  judge  of  the  moral  good  or  evil  ex- 
pressed in  their  sentences  and  make  them  state  reasons 
therefor.  I  saw  that  they  were  all  delighted  at  my 
having  opened  up  a  new  field  by  affording  them  oppor- 
tunity for  the  play  of  conscience." 

The  same  thing  can  be  done  still  more  profitably 
in  history  and  geography,  where  the  study  of  cause 
and  effect  plays  such  an  important  part.  In  arith- 
metic, too,  what  is  more  simple  than  not  to  leave  the 
mind  of  the  child  "in  the  air"  over  a  problem  which 
represents  only  a  combination  of  figures !  What 
is  more  simple  than  to  base  our  problems  on  data 
which  may  enrich  the  mind  with  an  idea  of  economy, 
or  give  an  exact  notion  of  one  of  the  great  departments, 
industrial,  commercial,  or  financial,  of  modern  life ! 
Before  or  after  correcting  the  exercise  time  may  well 


38       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

be  devoted  to  bringing  out  the  moral  consequences 
of  the  illustrations  used. 

But  foremost  among  the  exercises  adapted  to  this 
education  we  must  recognize  those  involving  invention 
and  composition.  Wisely  regulated  exercises  of  these 
types  (although  here  also  there  are  abuses  to  be  feared) 
are  of  the  greatest  value  in  enabling  an  intelligent 
teacher  to  take  possession  of  the  child's  mind  and  to 
direct  it  in  turn  toward  all  the  points  which  can  con- 
tribute to  develop  his  moral  sense. 

It  would  be  dijflScult  to  imagine  how  hard  it  is  to 
obtain  from  pupils  of  school  age  the  simplest  state- 
ment of  fact  in  a  personal  form,  or  how  meager  is 
the  vocabulary  they  use.  Not  only  do  they  lack 
expression  for  sentiments  of  a  delicate  character, 
but  even  in  the  sphere  of  those  ideas  among  which 
they  move,  they  are  obliged  to  borrow  their  words 
from  the  vocabulary  of  slang. 

Familiarity  with  good  books  gives  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  correct  and  purify  the  pupils'  language. 
Like  the  body,  the  mind  contracts  the  habit  of  correct 
bearing.  During  the  first  month  at  school  the  children 
are  for  the  most  part  quite  neglected;  at  the  end  of 
some  time  they  themselves  ask  their  mothers  to  keep 
them  clean  (we  know  of  more  than  one  such  instance), 
and  from  the  day  that  they  feel  this  desire  they  are 
generally  won  over  to  the  ideas  of  discipline  and  work. 
In  like  manner  good  language  is  not  only  the  aim  of 
education,  it  becomes  through  the  respect  given  itself 
an  agent  of  moral  improvement. 

Yet  reading  merely  collects  the  elements  of  thought 
and  language.     In  order  that  these  elements  may  be- 


OCTAVE  GREARD  39 

come  valuable  to  mind  and  heart,  they  must  be  assimi- 
lated. Here  the  exercise  of  redaction  comes  to  the 
fore.  The  name  is  used  to  designate  those  exercises 
by  which  the  child  is  called  upon  to  express  his  ideas. 
They  were  formerly  given,  and  in  the  young  ladies' 
boarding  schools  they  are  still  given,  the  false  and 
ridiculous  name  of  "style."  Even  the  word  "redac- 
tion" appears  too  pretentious,  and  we  should  like 
to  substitute  a  name  nearer  the  reality,  more  simple 
and  more  exact,  the  name  "exercise  in  invention  and 
composition."  Indeed,  the  idea  attached  to  the  word 
"redaction"  is  such  that  the  exercise  is  taken  up  only 
in  the  upper  grades;  and  for  the  same  reason  its 
subjects  are  sought  very  far  away.  What  is  the 
result?  If  the  theme  concerns  facts  that  the  child 
has  learned,  he  records  them  on  paper ;  if  his  memory 
does  not  furnish  him  anything,  not  knowing  how  to 
set  to  work,  he  bestirs  himself  to  put  a  few  banal 
phrases  together  as  best  he  can.  Ideas  do  not  come 
of  themselves  to  the  child's  mind ;  he  must  be  taught 
to  find  them.  Still  less  do  they  take  on  by  themselves 
the  order  and  the  form  that  they  should  assume;  he 
must  be  taught  to  compose.  Now  one  can  profitably 
begin  this  modest  apprenticeship  very  early.  How- 
ever young  the  child  may  be,  he  is  capable  of  creating 
the  examples  by  which  he  is  made  to  recognize  the 
nature  and  use  of  words  in  language;  he  has  ready- 
made  simple  sentences  already  in  mind;  he  possesses 
them  unconsciously,  but  he  possesses  them  none  the 
less;  his  games,  the  objects  about  him,  continually 
furnish  the  subjects  of  these  sentences  which  he  is 
only  too  anxious  to  express.     While  stimulating  this 


40       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

natural  faculty,  it  is  necessary  to  see  that  he  expresses 
himself  correctly. 

K  this  very  elementary  exercise  is  cleverly  combined 
with  reading,  if  the  attention  of  the  pupil  as  he  goes 
along  is  carefully  called  to  the  things  least  familiar 
to  him  and  to  the  words  which  serve  to  represent 
them,  little  by  little  the  resources  of  his  vocabulary 
will  increase,  together  with  those  of  his  mind,  and 
from  the  invention  of  the  simple  clause  he  will  easily 
pass  to  the  invention  of  the  complex  clause,  and 
thence  to  the  joining  of  two  clauses.  All  that  will 
make  up  one  sentence  at  the  most.  From  this  stage 
to  composition  properly  so  called  is  assiu'edly  a  great 
advance.  But  from  now  on  there  will  no  longer  be 
any  fundamental  diflSculty;  for  in  this  as  yet  purely 
oral  work  the  child  will  have  begun  to  gain  an  idea 
of  the  elements  of  thought  and  of  the  forms  which 
give  expression  to  thought. 

As  he  grows  older,  he  will  reach  the  stage  of  written 
development.  The  first  idea  will  be  furnished  by  the 
teacher  in  a  few  sentences,  in  the  beginning  four  or 
five  at  most;  even  the  framework  will  be  prepared. 
The  work  of  the  child  will  consist  in  filling  it  out  by 
indicating  the  causes,  the  effects,  and  the  accessory 
circumstances  of  time,  place,  etc.  This  sort  of  theme 
can  once  in  a  while  serve  as  text  for  the  spelling  lesson. 
In  whatever  fashion  the  exercise  is  given,  it  should 
be  corrected  on  the  blackboard  in  class.  Since  each 
pupil  will  bring  his  own  more  or  less  happy  suggestion, 
the  teacher  will  have  the  opportunity  of  training  the 
judgment  of  all  by  comparing  their  contributions. 
The  child  will  thus  learn  to  recognize  the  sources  of 


OCTAVE  GREARD  41 

the  different  ideas,  to  make  a  choice  among  them,  and 
to  link  them  together.  He  will  understand  the  work 
performed  by  his  mind,  for  his  reason  will  suggest 
to  him  the  supplementary  development  and  will  make 
him  appreciate  the  fitness  and  unity  of  this  develop- 
ment. 

He  will  thus  be  ready  to  attack  real  subjects  of 
composition  in  which  he  will  have  to  depend  entirely 
upon  himself.  If  these  subjects  are  borrowed  ex- 
clusively from  the  order  of  things  to  which  his  reading 
or  his  reflection  has  introduced  him,  he  will  attack 
them  without  astonishment  and  he  will  feel  at  ease 
with  them.  Through  being  accustomed  to  analyze 
the  elements  of  his  thought  in  order  to  discover  the 
exact  word  and  the  proper  form  in  which  to  express 
it,  he  will  be  able  to  bring  method,  fluency,  and  clear- 
ness into  his  composition. 

Such  at  least  is  the  end  which  one  should  gradually 
strive  to  attain.  I  must  repeat,  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion of  training  the  pupils  to  write,  in  the  literary  sense 
of  the  word.  The  capital  of  the  child,  however  rich 
we  succeed  in  making  it,  is  after  all  too  limited  to 
be  drawn  upon  repeatedly.  We  aim  only  properly 
to  direct  his  mental  activity  and  thus  to  teach  him 
to  express  accurate  ideas  in  correct  form.  Teaching 
a  child  to  read  clearly  in  his  reason  and  in  his  heart 
may  spare  him  many  errors  of  conduct.  At  least 
it  renders  more  difficult  the  encroachment  of  false 
ideas  and  evil  passions.  No  longer  understood  as 
"literary  themes"  superficially  plastered  on  the  studies 
of  the  final  years  (as  so  often  happens),  but  as  exer- 
cises aiming  even  from  the  first  grade  to  fortify  the 


42      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

solid  qualities  of  the  mind,  these  simple  attempts  at 
invention  and  composition  will  help  to  give  the  child 
a  firm  and  exact  knowledge  of  himself,  of  what  he 
feels,  of  what  he  thinks,  of  his  inclinations  and  duties. 
Under  such  conditions  they  can  and  will  be  one  of  the 
surest  and  most  powerful  instruments  in  education. 

Many  things  learned  on  the  schoolroom  benches 
are  more  or  less  quickly  effaced  from  the  memory. 
So  it  is  at  all  stages  in  the  studies  of  youth.  But  what 
remains  of  studies  well  done,  what  should  remain  of 
a  primary  education  in  which  the  moral  culture  that 
forms  the  character  is  united  with  the  intellectual 
culture  that  forms  the  mind,  this  residuum  is  a  sound 
and  enlightened  judgment. 


FfiLIX  PECAUT 

F^lix  P^caut  (1828-1898),  in  his  youth  a  Protestant  minister, 
became  one  of  the  founders  of  the  religious  movement  known  as 
"liberal  Protestantism."  In  1880  he  was  chosen  by  Jules  Ferry 
to  organize  the  higher  primary  normal  school  for  women  at  Fontenay- 
aux-Roses,  which  he  directed  until  just  before  his  death.  For 
fifteen  years  he  furnished  the  inspiration  for  a  type  of  moral  edu- 
cation whose  originality  consisted  in  uniting  deep  religious  feeling 
with  the  complete  independence  of  mind  characteristic  of  the  lay 
spirit.  It  is  at  Fontenay,  the  "Port-Royal  of  the  Third  Republic," 
that  the  teachers  and  principals  of  normal  schools  for  women  are 
trained.  Without  question  Pecaut  has  had  the  most  far-reaching 
influence  over  the  primary  education  of  women  in  contemporary 
France. 

AN  EXPERIMENT  IN  MORAL  TEACHING  AT 
FONTENAY-AUX-ROSES  ^ 


You  all  know  what  an  effort  we  have  been  making  in 
France  for  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  to  organize 
a  system  of  national  education  after  the  type  outlined 
by  the  men  of  the  French  Revolution.  The  name  of 
Jules  Ferry  suffices  to  personify  for  you  this  great 
political  movement.  The  public  school  that  has  be- 
come a  lay  school  —  lay  in  program,  lay  in  personnel, 
lay  in  the  spirit  that  animates  it  —  such  is  the  end  that 
the  laws  of  the  Third  Republic  have  permitted  us  to 
attain  after  long  years  of  violent  struggle.  But  what 
is  the  lay  school  ?  And  what  is  the  basis  of  the  principle 
of  the  lay  spirit  itself?  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is 
perfectly  comprehended  abroad  or  if  you  yourselves, 
observant  though  you  are  of  events  in  France,  have 

*  Extract  from  a  lecture  delivered  at  the  University  of  Geneva,  April, 
1900,  by  Ferdinand  Buisson. 

43 


44      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

not  been  inclined  to  accept  interpretations  that  made 
the  question  a  little  too  simple.  Some  good  people, 
confining  themselves  to  a  superficial  view  of  the  ques- 
tion, have  gone  so  far  as  to  see  in  this  revolution  in  our 
schools  either  a  reaction  against  Catholicism,  or  else 
a  triumph  of  positivism.  Others,  who  do  not  take 
pains  to  examine  critically  the  theories  that  suit  their 
prejudices,  made  a  discovery  which  they  have  divulged 
with  great  gusto,  claiming  that  beneath  these  school 
politics  there  was  a  clever  conspiracy  to  Protestantize 
France. 

Quite  recently  M.  Georges  Goyau,  the  lieutenant  of 
M.  Brunetiere,  published  an  article  in  the  Revue  des 
Deux  Mondes  which  he  subsequently  expanded  into  a 
volume  filled  with  facts  and  documents,  entitled  "The 
School  of  Today,"  a  critical  study  in  which  a  touch 
of  bitterness  should  not  make  us  misjudge  a  great  deal 
of  insight.  He  attributes  to  Protestantism,  and  par- 
ticularly to  its  radical  element,  a  secret  but  persistent 
control  in  the  new  lay  school. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  examine  these  diverse  con- 
tentions. I  should  like,  however,  to  call  your  attention 
to  a  single  chapter  in  our  educational  history  during  the 
past  twenty  years,  because  this  chapter  will  show  you 
the  educational  applications  of  the  doctrines  which  I 
have  tried  to  expound.  For  my  part,  I  am  not  primarily 
interested  in  their  specific  Protestant  aspects.  But 
then,  you  must  judge  for  yourselves. 

Of  all  the  tasks  that  Republican  France  was  under- 
taking, so  far  as  the  schools  were  concerned,  the  newest, 
avowedly  the  most  delicate,  and  the  one  where  nothing 
had  been  done,   was  the  education  of  girls.     Under 


FELIX  PfiCAUT  45 

the  leadership  of  Paul  Bert  and  Jules  Ferry,  Parlia- 
ment had  indeed  taken  a  radical  step.  It  had  decreed 
the  establishment  of  a  normal  school  for  women  teachers 
in  each  department,  that  is  to  say  of  a  school  for  the 
training  of  lay  teachers  destined  to  replace  the  sisters 
in  the  primary  schools  for  girls.  Thanks  to  the  splendid 
impulse  which,  on  the  very  morrow  of  our  disasters, 
united  for  the  time  being  all  parties  in  the  thought 
of  rehabilitating  the  nation,  the  funds  were  found 
which  were  necessary  for  creating  both  these  normal 
schools  and  the  thousands  of  primary  schools  which  we 
lacked. 

But  something  else  was  wanting  which  it  was  less 
easy  to  create.  Where  should  we  find  a  staff  of  lay- 
men capable  of  training  some  thousands  of  future 
teachers  ?  For  divers  reasons  there  could  be  no  ques- 
tion of  asking  our  system  of  higher  education,  as  it 
was  then  constituted,  to  assume  the  burden.  Right 
or  wrong,  the  Republic  was  determined  to  have  this 
preparation  of  women  teachers  conducted  by  women. 
It  was  therefore  necessary  to  place  at  the  head  of  each 
one  of  these  eighty  normal  schools  for  girls  a  principal 
and  three  or  four  teachers  capable  of  conducting  the 
professional  education  of  forty,  fifty,  sixty  normal 
students,  most  of  them  young  peasant  girls,  from  six- 
teen to  twenty  years  of  age,  who  would  leave  at  the 
end  of  three  years,  to  act  as  lay  teachers  in  villages 
which  had  never  seen  a  school  mistress  and  did  not 
suspect  that  there  were  any  except  the  good  sisters. 

To  attempt  such  a  work  and  in  such  a  brief  time, 
under  the  fire  of  so  much  ill-will  and  in  the  midst  of 
so  many  difficulties;    to  improvise  a  staff  of  women 


46      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

capable  of  such  an  effort,  in  a  country  where  the  edu- 
cation of  women  had  until  then  remained  in  the  hands 
of  the  Church,  was  not  that  attempting  the  impossible  ? 
Jules  Ferry  dared  it,  and  it  is  perhaps  the  greatest 
act  of  faith  in  the  virility  of  the  French  democracy 
that  can  be  cited  on  the  part  of  a  statesman  of  our 
day. 

He  conceived  the  idea  of  founding  a  higher  normal 
school,  a  sort  of  poedagogium,  to  which  there  should 
be  admitted,  after  competitive  examination,  young 
women  learned  enough  to  be  able  in  a  year  or  two  to 
become  good  teachers,  resolute  enough  to  form  the 
first  phalanx  in  this  new  army,  courageous  enough  to 
go  out  into  the  different  departments  and  face  every 
kind  of  prejudice  and  every  kind  of  calumny. 

M.  Ferry  confided  the  organization  of  this  central 
school,  from  which  the  new  spirit  in  the  education  of 
girls  was  to  radiate,  to  a  man  who  had  no  oflScial  quali- 
fication for  the  position,  a  publicist  known  chiefly  in 
the  religious  and  philosophical  world.  For  a  short 
time  in  his  youth  he  had  filled  a  pastorate  in  Beam, 
but  had  given  it  up  in  1859  on  the  publication  of  his 
first  work,  Christ  and  the  Conscience,  a  book  which  had 
caused  a  sensation  in  the  Protestant  world. 

The  author,  manifestly  of  unusual  mind  and  soul, 
was  in  spite  of  his  youth  esteemed,  loved,  and  respected 
by  all.  People  read  with  amazement  the  conclusions 
of  this  book,  which  preceded  by  several  years  Renan's 
Life  of  Jesus,  and  surpassed  in  certain  respects  Renan's 
audacity.  Many  of  those  who  hear  me  know  M. 
Pecaut  and  remember  the  place  he  occupied  among 
the  extreme  radicals  of  Protestant  theologians. 


FfiLIX  PfiCAUT      •  47 


To  this  man,  noted  for  his  very  advanced  opinions, 
M.  Ferry  thought  proper  to  confide  the  training  of 
the  higher  teaching  staff  for  the  education  of  girls. 
He  commissioned  Pecaut  to  organize  the  school  at 
Fontenay-aux-Roses.  You  doubtless  can  picture  to 
yourselves  the  difficulty,  the  complexity,  of  the  task. 
These  girls,  the  majority  of  them  coming  from  lower- 
class  families,  almost  all  of  them  Catholics,  provided 
only  with  a  good  elementary  education,  were  to  be 
transformed- into  teachers  of  teachers.  Not  only  must 
they  be  well-informed  persons,  acquainted  with  the 
newest  and  best  methods  of  teaching,  possessing  open 
and  cultivated  minds,  but  above  all  they  must  be 
directors,  sources  of  inspiration,  human  beings  capable 
of  enlightening  and  stimulating  other  human  beings. 
"It  would  be,"  he  had  written,  "  a  poor  sort  of  reason 
and  a  very  poor  school  which  should  pretend  to  teach 
only  what  can  be  seen,  handled,  or  demonstrated 
mathematically,  without  concerning  itself  with  all  the 
truth,  the  nobleness,  the  aspirations,  the  dignity,  that 
humanity  has  created  through  the  continual  effort  of 
its  sages,  its  seers,  and  its  legislators  —  in  short,  with 
the  very  ideal  in  the  depth  of  the  human  soul.  What- 
ever may  be  said  of  all  this,  it  is  nature ;  it  is  human. 
It  belongs  to  reason,  and  when  appropriating  it  freely, 
reason  only  enriches  herself  by  her  rightful  heritage. 
So  true  is  this  that  our  schoolmasters,  in  affecting  for 
instance  to  neglect  the  lessons  of  Epictetus,  of  Marcus 
Aurelius,  of  Socrates,  or  of  Jesus,  as  a  teaching  now 
superannuated,    would    fail    to    recognize    their    true 


48      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

spiritual  ancestors  and  the  ideal  by  which  the  world 
and  they  themselves  are  living  today." 

How  much  truer  and  more  important  still  must 
these  observations  have  appeared  to  him  when  the 
education  of  women  was  in  question.  In  this  domain 
more  than  in  all  others  M.  Pecaut  felt  that  the  nerve 
and  sinew  of  the  new  education  lay  in  the  depth  and 
strength  of  the  personal  conviction  animating  the 
teacher.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  think  that  the  first 
guarantee  of  serious  development  that  could  be  given 
to  lay  instruction  in  the  Republic  was  to  establish 
steadfastly  in  each  one  of  these  women  the  inner  au- 
thority, or,  to  express  it  better,  the  sovereignty  of 
reason  and  of  conscience.  For  him  the  success  of  the 
revolution  attempted  by  our  country  depended  upon 
the  answers  to  these  questions :  Will  it  be  possible 
to  give  the  educators  of  the  French  lay  school  **a  re- 
ligious soul"  and  at  the  same  time  a  "mind  freed  from 
the  blind  regard  for  tradition".'^  Will  the  principal 
of  the  Republican  normal  school  be  able  to  "seek  out 
and  cultivate  that  which  is  the  foundation  of  feminine 
nature  and  its  dignity  .^^  Can  she  by  her  example 
teach  the  young  teachers  of  the  people  to  consider 
themselves  engaged  in  a  divine  work,  in  which  they 
must  be  co-laborers  with  God  himself,  to  the  end  that 
the  woman  of  conscience  and  of  reason,  capable  of 
truth  and  justice  no  less  than  of  love,  may  rise  from 
the  depths  of  weakness  and  coarse  instinct,  by  the  aid 
of  the  elements  of  knowledge  .^^ " 

It  was  given  to  M.  Pecaut  to  direct  for  more  than 
fifteen  years  the  school  he  had  founded.  I  should 
like  to  make  you  realize  how  he  accomplished  the  task 


FELIX  PECAUT  49 

just  outlined,  but  here  neither  definitions  nor  formulas 
nor  official  reports  can  enlighten  you.  You  would 
have  to  enter  into  the  eager  everyday  life  of  Fontenay. 
At  the  risk,  or  rather  with  the  certitude,  of  being  ex- 
tremely superficial  and  of  giving  but  fragmentary 
views  of  this  connected  whole,  I  ask  your  permission 
to  use  the  method  of  illustration,  and  cite  a  few  random 
traits,  leaving  you  the  task  of  piecing  them  together. 

Ill 

The  school  at  Fontenay  had  existed  barely  a  few 
months  when  it  received  the  visit  of  a  foreigner,  a 
good  judge  in  such  matters,  Matthew  Arnold.  This 
great  writer,  who  at  the  same  time  inherited  his  father's 
pedagogical  genius,  stopped  a  few  days  at  Fontenay 
during  a  protracted  tour  of  Europe,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  was  making  a  first-hand  study  of  the  principal 
educational  establishments.  He  says  in  his  report :  "I 
doubt  whether  I  saw  on  the  continent  as  good  a  school, 
certainly  I  saw  none  so  interesting,  as  the  training 
school  at  Fontenay-aux-Roses."  After  giving  a  few 
details  about  the  house,  the  family  spirit,  and  the 
personnel,  he  adds :  **  The  soul  of  the  place  is  M. 
Pecaut,  a  man  of  about  sixty,  whom  I  had  already 
met  in  France  twenty  years  ago.  When  I  hear  it 
said  that  all  that  the  French  Republican  government 
is  doing  for  education  is  due  to  hatred  for  religion, 
I  think  of  Fontenay  and  of  M.  Pecaut.  I  think  of 
the  cordial  support  given  him  by  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction.  When  I  think  of  all  that,  I  render  jus- 
tice to  the  Republican  government." 

Here  the  eminent  critic  relates  what  he  saw  of  the 


50      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

first  halting  steps  of  the  moral  teaching  given  by  lay- 
men in  our  primary  schools.  He  recognizes  better 
than  anybody  else  what  it  lacks  and  explains  this  in- 
sufficiency, precisely  "because  such  an  instruction  is 
not  improvised."  So  he  describes  with  very  par- 
ticular interest  what  is  done  at  Fontenay : 

The  young  women  at  Fontenay  are  in  general  Catholics.  They 
go  to  church  on  Sundays,  but  each  morning  they  receive  from  M. 
Pecaut,  in  an  informal  talk,  a  lesson  that  may  be  called  a  lesson 
in  pedagogy,  but  which  is  really  a  special  form  of  moral  and  re- 
ligious education.  M.  Pecaut  takes  up  with  his  class  selected 
passages  from  great  pedagogical  writers,  Locke,  Rousseau,  Pesta- 
lozzi.  The  day  that  I  was  at  the  lecture,  the  author  under  con- 
sideration was  Bishop  Dupanloup,  whose  book  Education  raises 
what  are  called  burning  questions  on  every  page.  They  were 
treated  in  a  manner  deeply  moral  and  perfectly  religious,  and  yet 
neither  Catholic  nor  Protestant.  Not  only  did  M.  Pecaut  treat 
them  so  himself,  but  he  had  trained  his  pupils  so  to  treat  them  also. 
One  could  judge  of  this  by  their  answers,  by  their  participation 
in  the  oral  discussion,  and  by  their  written  notes. 

If  M.  Pecaut  could  be  multiplied  and  placed  in  every  normal 
school  in  France,  the  foundation  of  a  moral  instruction,  not  futile 
as  at  present?  ;^*^,  seriously  and  religiously  effective,  would  be  made 
possible  in  the  French  schools.  At  present  it  is  at  Fontenay  only 
that  I  found  instruction  of  this  kind.  What  is  accomplished  there 
is  all  of  the  highest  value,  but  this  particular  moral  instruction  is 
unique. 

I  was  anxious  to  quote  you  the  judgment  of  this 
keen  visitor.  You  would  appreciate  the  morning 
lectures  to  which  Matthew  Arnold  makes  allusion 
far  better,  however,  if  you  should  gather  the  testimony 
either  of  the  professors  and  tutors  or  of  the  numerous 
generations  of  young  women  who  have  felt  M.  Pecaut's 
influence.     According  to  a  former  student,  "it  was,  so 


FfiUX  PECAUT  51 

to  speak,  the  religious  service  which  opened  our  day." 
Little  by  little  there  grew  up  a  custom  of  opening  or 
closing  the  assembly  with  one  of  the  beautiful  choruses 
that  first  M.  Bourgalit-Ducoudray  and  later  Maurice 
Bouchor  selected  for  Fontenay  and  the  lay  schools. 

IV 

Not  long  ago  an  old  notebook  was  found  in  which 
M.  Pecaut  had  jotted  down  the  synopses  of  these  talks. 
Will  you  allow  me  to  read  you  a  few  lines?  In  spite 
of  their  brevity,  you  will  understand  his  method  : 

November  9,  1886.  Read  Madame  de  Maintenon's  letter  on  the 
sensible  girl.  Charming  picture.  The  sensible  girl  is  gay;  she 
makes  herself  everything  to  everybody ;  she  goes  to  sleep  satisfied 
with  her  day.  This  last  trait  Port-Royal  would  have  condemned. 
Madame  de  Maintenon  is  concerned  with  what  her  young  lady 
will  do  more  than  with  what  she  will  be.  The  moral  sentiment  is 
not  sufficiently  profound. 

November  10.  On  Madame  de  Maintenon.  The  term  "good 
sense"  is  the  characteristic  feature  of  her  lessons.  "Be  sensible  and 
you  will  be  amiable,"  she  loves  to  say.  Good  tfense  for  her  was  the 
wisdom  that  accommodates  itself  to  persons  and  tc  igs.  There 
are,  nevertheless,  greater  virtues :  courage  of  soul ;  indignation 
in  the  face  of  evil.  Madame  de  Maintenon  teaches  us  to  be  on  our 
guard  against  excitement  and  sentimentality.  That  is  very  well. 
But  let  not  our  good  sense  inhibit  the  transports  of  our  soul.  Can 
we  love  Madame  de  Maintenon,  sensible  as  she  is?  Montesquieu 
has  said  of  her :  "  Louis  XIV  had  a  soul  that  was  greater  than  his 
mind.  Madame  de  Maintenon  worked  to  lower  it  until  she  had 
brought  it  down  to  his  level."  This  judgment  is  severe.  Is  it  too 
severe  ? 

November  23.  On  the  reflections  our  readings  should  inspire. 
Read  in  the  Temps  the  letters  on  the  last  elections.  When  you  see 
that  the  peasants  of  the  Ardeche,  in  their  joy  at  the  defeat  of  the 
republican  candidates,  sacrificed  a  goat  to  celebrate  the  funeral 


52      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

rites  of  the  Republic,  you  will  better  understand  the  duties  of  our 
teachers. 

December  17.  Essay  on  Misery  by  the  Comte  d'HaussonvUle. 
Poverty,  a  great  evil,  to  which  we  must  not  resign  ourselves. 
Society's  preventive  measures  (pension  funds,  mutual  benefit 
societies)  are  insufficient.  Charity  is  necessary.  Let  us  make  a 
place  for  it  in  our  school  life.  Ideas  inspired  by  science  are  being 
diffused ;  these  ideas  tend  to  show  in  the  poverty-stricken  a  dead 
weight  which  hinders  the  advance  of  society.  M.  d'Haussonville 
seems  struck  by  the  force  of  these  ideas  and  bears  a  grudge  against 
science.  As  for  us,  let  us  try  to  harmonize  our  ideas  of  human 
liberty  with  the  physical  necessities  that  science  establishes. 

December  21.  On  an  address  by  M.  Laffite,  leader  of  the  pas- 
itwistSy  at  Gerson  Hall.  It  was  a  popular  audience  of  about  two 
hundred  persons,  who  pencil  in  hand  were  trying  to  take  notes. 
M.  Pierre  Laffite,  the  disciple  and  follower  of  Auguste  Comte,  ex- 
pounded the  general  physical  and  social  laws  on  which  education 
should  rest.  The  address  was  not  conspicuous  for  its  clearness. 
Nevertheless,  the  audience  listened  to  him  with  reverential  attention. 
Positivism  brings  to  those  who  adopt  it  a  sort  of  revelation  of  science, 
rules  of  conduct,  and  peace  of  mind.  Whether  that  shocks  us  or 
not,  we  must  grow  accustomed  to  the  thought  that  thousands  of 
men  live  by  another  spiritual  bread  than  we. 

The  most  striking  thing  about  these  informal  talks 
is  that  nothing  savors  of  the  didactic  or  the  pedantic. 
M.  Pecaut  brings  his  hearers  face  to  face  with  ques- 
tions affecting  social,  national,  and  family  life,  but 
especially  those  affecting  moral  life.  He  takes  for 
his  theme  the  event  of  the  day,  the  elections,  Mgr. 
Freppel's  stirring  speech  in  Parliament  on  Tongking, 
the  publication  of  a  libelous  attack  on  France  by  a 
German.  "What  is  bitter  is  a  tonic,"  he  writes,  "and 
it  will  be  good  for  us  to  read  these  charges."  He  often 
touches  upon  domestic  and  household  life,  or  on  middle- 
class  prejudices. 


FELIX  PECAUT  53 

At  other  times  he  discusses  the  most  lofty  subjects 
in  philosophy  or  poetry.  One  day  he  talks  to  them 
on  the  death  of  Socrates.  Socrates  puts  away  his 
wife.  He  compares  Socrates  with  Saint  Augustine, 
who  says  of  his  mother,  "We  had  but  one  life  between 
us."  Then  follow  reflections  on  the  role  of  woman 
in  Greek  society.  He  contrasts  it  with  the  portrait 
of  the  virtuous  woman  in  the  Bible,  and  in  reference 
to  this  writes  in  his  memoranda : 

Practical  sense  and  physical  energy  are  strongly  marked  traits 
in  the  Hebrew  type,  traits  which  we  should  borrow.  Woman  is 
sometimes  spoken  of  as  a  visionary  creature.  Our  women  of  the 
people  are  strong  and  robust.  They  do  not  dream;  they  act. 
You  who  wish  to  develop  tender  women  should  begin  by  making 
them  strong.  You  who  wish  to  develop  religious  women  should 
remember  that  morality  is  the  beginning  of  true  piety.  Our  ideal 
of  woman  must  possess  besides  force  reason  in  its  broadest  sense, 
a  reason  enlightened  and  free,  which  becomes  her  as  well  as  man ; 
the  practical  sense  that  is  perhaps  more  necessary  for  her  than  for 
him;  and  affectionate  kindness,  kindness  with  the  grace  which 
captivates,  which  retains  and  appeases;  modesty,  that  is  to  say 
reserve ;  but  the  quality  that  should  dominate  the  others  is  moral 
earnestness,  a  serious  conception  of  life  and  its  actions.  That  is 
what  we  would  add  to  the  Greek  type. 

At  another  time  he  asks  them  to  consult  their  con- 
sciences and  find  out  if  they  have  already  had  the 
experience  described  in  this  quotation  from  Edgar 
Quinet : 

What  I  have  loved  I  have  found  every  day  more  lovable.  Each 
day  justice  has  seemed  to  me  more  simple,  liberty  more  beautiful, 
the  word  more  sacred,  poetry  more  true,  nature  more  divine,  and 
the  divine  more  natural. 


54      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 


Was  I  not  right  in  telling  you  that  a  few  citations 
would  suffice  to  disclose  the  intensity  of  the  moral 
life  of  which  Fontenay  has  been  the  center  ?  To  com- 
plete your  enlightenment  on  this  subject  allow  me  to 
refer  you  to  two  admirable  articles  by  the  director 
of  Fontenay  which  express  his  whole  soul,  and  in  which 
his  work  appears  in  its  luminous  beauty.  These  are 
his  two  last  addresses,  the  one  at  the  general  reunion 
of  his  former  pupils  in  1895,  entitled  the  Spirit  of 
Fontenay y  the  other  his  farewell  address,  on  August  6, 
1896.^  But  let  me  again  resort  to  direct  borrowing 
from  Pecaut  himself  and  give  you  testimony  at  first 
hand.  From  a  few  pages  not  destined  for  publication 
and  written  on  the  death  of  M.  Pecaut  by  one  of  his 
former  pupils,  I  choose  one  which  gives  in  epitome 
the  experiences  of  every  "Fontenaisienne"  : 

The  three  years  I  passed  at  Fontenay,  and  especially  the  last, 
were  the  most  fruitful  in  my  life.  They  cast  upon  it  a  ray  of  joy 
and  gave  it  its  force.  The  charm  of  these  years  doubtless  consisted 
in  the  intellectual  treat  afforded  by  the  lessons  of  so  many  eminent 
teachers.  It  lay  in  all  the  world  of  ideas  which  opened  up  before 
us.  But  more  than  intellectual  joys,  what  made  us  happy  was  the 
moral  atmosphere  breathed  at  Fontenay,  a  pure  and  invigorating 
atmosphere,  in  which  we  felt  our  hearts  grow  bigger  and  in  which 
all  pettiness  disappeared,  leaving  room  only  for  a  joyous  impulse 
toward  the  good. 

However  young  and  unenlightened  we  might  be  on  arrival  at 
Fontenay,  we  soon  had  a  strong  though  confused  idea  of  a  moral 
grandeur  before  unknown,  of  a  new  moral  world,  as  it  were.  At 
first  I  was  greatly  astonished  that  the  words  of  M.  Pecaut  in  the 
morning  lectures  made  a  more  religious  impression  upon  me  than 

*  In  Uidncation  publique  etlavie  nationale. 


FELIX  PECAUT  55 

did  the  sermons  I  heard  and  the  religious  services  themselves,  al- 
though he  did  not  mention  religion. 

Doubtless  during  the  first  two  years  I  was  very  far  from  imder- 
standing  all  he  said.  However,  as  I  developed  a  more  lively  feeling 
of  duty,  a  two-fold  teaching  became  clear,  that  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility and  of  free  and  sincere  seeking  after  truth.  One  of 
M.  Pecaut's  favorite  themes  was  "that  it  is  permitted  to  no  one, 
either  to  individuals  or  to  peoples,  to  give  over  into  the  hands  of 
another  the  government  of  self."  Was  it  because  this  truth  was 
new  to  me?  None  made  a  more  lively  impression.  It  was  for 
me  the  awakening  of  the  personal  life  of  the  conscience.  Not  that 
from  one  day  to  the  next  I  had  broken  with  the  past,  but  I  under- 
stood that  the  final  word  devolved  upon  my  conscience.  It  was 
no  longer  possible  to  lull  myself  with  the  words  of  another  into  a 
false  peace.  It  was  my  conscience  that  had  to  be  obeyed.  It  was 
with  my  conscience  that  I  had  to  be  reconciled.  From  that  moment 
its  authority  superseded  all  external  authority.  At  last  I  saw 
clearly  that  it  is  one  of  the  gravest  errors  to  consider  absolute 
obedience  a  virtue,  or  even  a  virtue  to  be  proposed  to  those  who 
seek  perfection  in  the  spiritual  life.  To  surrender  one's  conscience, 
whatever  be  the  pretext,  seems  to  me  today  the  supreme  im- 
morality. 

Many  passed  through  the  religious  crisis  to  which 
allusion  is  made  here.  All  did  not  come  out  of  it  in 
the  same  fashion,  but  what  they  all  learned  was  how 
far  their  director  was  from  being  a  director  of  con- 
science. No  word,  no  idea  was  more  repugnant  to 
him.  Never  did  a  man  intervene  less  between  the 
conscience  of  others  and  truth.  "His  fundamental 
principle,"  says  M.  Sabatier,  "was  to  ask  every  one 
to  be  true,  true  to  himself."  But  it  must  be  added 
that  there  was  born  of  this  intellectual  sincerity  an 
inner  freedom,  a  lively  sentiment  of  responsibility, 
the  absolute  command  never  to  shrink  from  the  duty 
of  thinking  and  willing  for  oneself.     As  the  corre- 


56      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

spondence  of  his  pupils  in  their  professional  life  attests, 
it  is  the  point  to  which  he  never  ceases  to  return.  If 
they  had  had  but  one  lesson  to  carry  away  from 
Fontenay,  it  would  have  been  this:  "Never,"  as  one 
of  them  says,  "never  did  M.  Pecaut  pronounce  a  judg- 
ment for  you.  It  seemed  that  in  his  presence  you 
felt  your  own  conscience  revealing  itself  to  you;  and 
he  simply  said :  'Listen,  seek,  truth  must  reveal  itself 
to  the  soul  that  seeks  it.'" 

VI 

Among  all  the  characteristics  that  distinguish  him, 
the  most  striking  is  certainly  this  incessant  appeal  to 
the  conscience  as  the  religious  force  preceding  all  re- 
ligions and  superior  to  them.  It  is  this  conviction 
that  a  man  can  do  nothi^^  more  religious  than  to  strive 
to  form  within  hims.ix  an  upright  soul  and  to  create 
around  him  others  of  the  same  kind.  Is  it  not  remark- 
able to  see  the  same  person  unhesitatingly  attach  an 
infinite  price  to  the  moral  activity  of  the  humblest 
schoolmistress  and  be  able  at  the  same  time  so  frankly 
to  remind  her  how  little,  how  humble,  how  narrow 
this  work  is  and  with  what  modesty  she  must  confine 
herself  to  it  ? 

To  a  directress  who,  in  the  face  of  serious  diflSculty 
in  the  government  of  her  school,  asked  his  advice,  he 
answered,  "First,  do  not  get  discouraged."  Then  he 
added : 

In  your  place  should  I  get  along  better  than  you?  I  do  not 
think  so.  Of  a  truth  I  should  retire  within  myself  every  day, 
seeking  in  stillness  and  humility  and  in  the  affection  of  those  poor 
children    ("unmanageable   students")    new   resources,    more   dis- 


FfiLIX  PECAUT  57 

cerning  methods  of  influencing  all  of  them  and  a  chosen  few  in 
particular.  After  all,  there  is  something  human  in  them  that  we 
can  always  evoke.  Come  now,  confidence  and  hope!  In  the 
meantime  these  girls  compel  you  to  be  worth  something  more  than 
you  would  have  been  worth  without  them. 

To  another  who,  a  simple  teacher  at  the  time,  was 
meeting  many  obstacles  in  the  broad  educative  work 
of  which  she  had  dreamed,  he  writes : 

You  say  you  are  almost  resigned  to  apply  yourself  to  mere 
teaching.     Stop  at  the  "almost,"  and  do  not  restrict  yourself  by  it. 

Never  leave  off  awakening  in  your  newcomers  other  sentiments 
than  those  of  schoolgirls.  Have  not  I  already  told  you  that  it 
would  be  a  splendid  reward  for  each  one  of  us  to  create  a  few  firm 
consciences,  a  few  liberal,  generous  souls  among  these  girls?  To 
prevent  settling  down  into  forgetfulness,  to  prevent  the  torch  (the 
one  that  has  given  us  light)  from  Voing  out  in  France,  at  least  in 
the  corner  of  the  field  which  has  beeiuassigned  to  us ;  to  have  one 
or  two  of  our  "Fontenaisiennes"  tran.'ilijt  it  bright  and  vivid  to 
others,  that  is  after  all  not  to  have  lived  in  vain. 

And  in  another  letter : 

It  is  surely  the  duty  of  your  age  to  bring  to  the  common  work 
the  spirit  of  youth,  that  is  of  confidence,  courage,  and  joy.  Re- 
member, what  I  expect  of  the  daughters  of  Fontenay  is  that  they 
make  up  for  the  weaknesses  of  their  predecessors  by  their  good 
humor  and  their  merry  activity.  You  owe  it  to  us  to  help  us  re- 
main young.  I  should  pity  this  country  if  the  spirit  of  resignation 
or  discouragement  came  to  predominate  among  you,  if  the  new 
generation  of  directresses  and  teachers  in  normal  schools,  who  look 
to  their  predecessors  for  guidance,  should  renounce  renewing  itself 
from  within.  There  will  be  at  least  a  few  of  you  to  ward  off  this 
misfortune. 

Such  was  the  teaching  of  this  new  Port-Royal  where 
history  "will  mark  out  the  figure  of  Felix  Pecaut  as 
that  of  a  lay  St.  Cyran,  philosopher,  and  republican." 


58      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

His  work  and  doctrine  could  not  be  better  sum- 
marized than  in  these  words  of  one  of  the  men  who 
knew  him  best:  "He  thought  with  all  that  intensity 
of  reflection  that  was  characteristic  of  him  that  morality 
had  a  religious  foundation  and  should  have  a  religious 
soul.  ...  He  thought  that  in  order  to  possess  its 
full  truth,  moral  life  needs  to  rest  upon  something 
immutable.  He  believed  in  man's  divine  descent  and 
in  his  divine  destiny.  In  order  to  do  his  duty  well 
at  the  post  assigned  him,  the  humblest  of  us  needs 
to  know  that  in  doing  it  he  is  in  accord  with  the  uni- 
versal order  and  collaborates  with  it.  Now  this  firm 
and  lively  faith  is  religion  itself.  Pecaut,  who  had 
begun  by  transforming  the  religion  of  his  childhood, 
wishing  it  to  be  exclusively  moral,  transfigured  his 
morality  at  the  end  by  making  it  profoundly  religious. 
This  intimate  fusion  of  two  powers  which  are  so 
violently  at  war  in  our  society  constituted  his  origi- 
nality as  a  teacher  and  his  inner  force.  He  lived 
sincerely  and  he  died  in  peace,  because  he,  too,  was 
conscious  of  having  contributed  in  the  measure  al- 
lotted him  to  the  imiversal  order." 

NON-SECTARIANISM  ^ 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  discussion  about  the  sec- 
tarian spirit  which  is  supposed  to  have  dictated  the  law 
and  the  programs  of  lay  control.  People  are  wont  to 
confuse  the  lay  spirit  with  the  sectarian  spirit,  as 
if  the  lay  spirit  (that  is  to  say,  the  spirit  of  reason,  the 
spirit  of  everybody,  of  society  as  a  whole,  of  historical 

^  VHvjcaiion  jmblique  et  la  vie  nationaley  Introduction. 


FfiLIX  PfiCAUT  59 

traditions  of  every  sort,  the  free  human  or  national 
spirit  and  not  that  of  a  conservative  church  or  school) 
were  not  in  its  essential  principle  the  very  opposite 
of  the  spirit  of  sectarianism  or  of  system,  and  as  open 
to  religious  as  to  secular  thought.  In  the  face  of 
necessities  as  evident  as  the  sun,  on  what  basis  could 
the  State  build  up  a  national  education  save  upon 
the  basis  of  a  lay  program  ?  This  would  include  only 
such  subjects  as  are  dependent  upon  reason  alone, 
understood  in  its  broadest  sense,  that  is  to  say  the 
intelligence,  the  conscience,  and  the  heart  enlightened 
by  history.  Such  a  program  would  exclude  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Church  or  of  any  particular  sect,  which 
spring  from  authority  or  from  faith.  And  to  what 
staff  of  teachers  would  the  State  have  confided  the 
care  of  this  education  if  not  to  lay  teachers,  who 
mingle  in  the  life  of  the  times,  who  are  free  from  the 
limitations  imposed  by  a  particular  sect,  and  who 
recognize  no  other  superiors  than  the  inspectors  of  the 
State?  By  what  strange  misapprehension  could  any- 
body who  prides  himself  on  his  intelligence  see  a 
Jacobin  or  a  positivist  purpose  (I  do  not  refer  to  the 
intolerant  measures  of  an  occasional  town  council) 
in  the  law  itself,  which  does  not  exclude  from  the 
public  school  any  one  of  our  sons  or  daughters  (whether 
Catholics  in  their  immense  majority,  or  Protestants, 
Jews,  or  free  thinkers,  merely  requiring  that  they  be 
servants  of  the  State)  while  teaching  according  to 
reason  the  things  which  reason  dictates,  and  abstain- 
ing from  teaching  according  to  authority  the  things 
which  are  not  based  upon  reason  ? 

This  plan  was  not  only  legitimate;     it  was  nee- 


60      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

essary  in  a  country  like  ours,  where  the  Church  has 
always  assumed,  and  too  often  exercised,  tlie  right 
to  the  monopoly  and  sovereign  control  of  moral  teach- 
ing. If  she  had  shown  herself  less  hostile  to  our  in- 
stitutions, more  disposed  to  tolerance  and  to  social 
relations,  it  would  have  been  possible  to  open  tlie 
school  doors  to  her  clergy  and  to  have  them  give  con- 
fessional teaching  to  their  adherents.  But  even  under 
these  conditions  lay  society  would  have  failed  in  its 
duty;  it  would  have  abrogated  its  essential  right  if 
it  had  failed  to  give  moral  instruction  itself,  accord- 
ing to  its  own  spirit  and  method,  in  view  of  the  needs 
of  a  democracy  which  is  establishing  itself  in  the  midst 
of  a  thousand  risks  and  perils. 

Was  this  scheme  chimerical  ?  Only  those  will  think 
so  who  forget  that  society  lives  by  a  certain  quota  of 
beliefs  and  generally  adopted  rules,  and  that  this 
quota,  in  spite  of  or  by  means  of  revolutions  in  ideas 
and  institutions,  is  always  being  clarified,  expanded, 
deepened.  Is  it  not  true  that  legislators  when  pro- 
mulgating their  laws,  fathers  and  mothers  when  bring- 
ing up  their  children,  teachers  when  approving  or 
censuring  their  pupils,  moralists  when  passing  judg- 
ment upon  action  or  character,  implicitly  refer  to  a 
certain  idea  of  man,  of  the  individual  man,  of  the  man 
in  the  family,  of  the  citizen?  And  can  it  be  denied 
that  in  spite  of  the  doctrinal  uncertainties  of  the 
present,  the  idea  of  humanity  is  richer  today  than  it 
has  ever  been,  and  is  in  many  respects  more  ac- 
tive.'^ .  .  .  Doubtless  the  contemporary  conscience, 
at  least  in  France,  has  allowed  certain  essential  traits 
of  humanity  to  be  effaced  and  almost  lost :    humility. 


FELIX  PECAUT  61 

resignation,  habitual  conservation  of  the  soul  and 
life  as  opposed  to  their  disintegration,  love  of  silence 
as  opposed  to  wastage  of  thought  and  word,  sincere 
charity  toward  one's  neighbor,  the  fruit  of  humility 
and  the  exact  knowledge  of  self,  vigilant  control  of 
the  inner  life,  and  in  general  a  just  value  placed  upon 
this  invisible  life,  from  which  the  life  that  is  seen  flows 
incessantly  in  word  and  deed  but  whose  secret  escapes 
others  and  often  escapes  ourselves.  Present  society 
has,  nevertheless,  retained  or  appropriated  by  as- 
similation a  number  of  precious  traits  borrowed  from 
Christian  and  historic  ideals  and  from  the  philosophy 
of  the  last  century.  Taken  together  they  make  up 
a  sort  of  credo  tacitly  accepted  by  all.  Such  are 
justice,  or  the  idea  of  right  which,  together  with  that 
of  social  duty,  has  been  extended  in  various  new  direc- 
tions ;  the  idea  of  human  dignity  existing  in  all  men, 
which  is  the  true  basis  of  democracy  and  of  free  in- 
stitutions, and  from  which  proceed  the  respect  of  self 
and  of  others,  of  woman  and  of  the  child;  the  idea 
of  the  natural  laws  which  rule  us  and  impose  upon  us 
the  difficult  condition  of  effort,  pain,  and  perseverance 
in  the  moral  order,  as  in  all  else ;  the  idea  of  the  moral 
destiny  of  man,  and  of  the  high  value  it  confers  on  the 
temporal  interests  of  our  present  life  with  its  diverse 
activities ;  the  idea  that  man  is  called  to  shape  his 
destiny  freely,  that  is  to  say,  constantly  to  impose 
order  in  the  chaos  of  instincts,  blind  impulses,  ob- 
scure whims,  and  noble  aspirations  that  he  carries 
within  him,  in  a  word,  to  bring  forth  from  the  natural 
man  the  real  and  hidden  man,  the  only  one  worthy 
of  his  august  name;    the  idea  that  after  having  con- 


62       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

ceived  this  order  he  is  called  by  a  quite  natural  vo- 
cation to  realize  it  in  everyday  life,  and  to  that  end  to 
subdue  and  discipline  himself  by  strict  habit.  Such 
a  view  of  education  which  few  among  us  would  dare 
contradict  openly  puts  us,  I  think,  very  far  short  from 
absolute  determinism,  as  well  as  from  the  indulgent 
and  skeptical  naturalism  of  Montaigne,  that  assails 
on  all  sides  the  spirit  of  our  generation. 

Another  feature  of  the  tacitly  accepted  contemporary 
credo  is  that  moral  discipline,  while  aiming  first  of  all 
at  the  health  of  the  soul,  is  secular,  as  opposed  to 
ecclesiastical  or  idealistic  asceticism.  The  present 
life  with  its  fundamental  instincts  is  legitimate,  but 
it  is  nevertheless  matter  which  the  mind  must  pene- 
trate. If  matter  be  suppressed  or  diminished  there  is 
no  longer  real  morality,  but  if  morality,  that  is  to  say 
the  higher  phase  of  the  mind,  be  suppressed,  there  is 
no  humanity,  and  from  that  moment  life  is  valueless ; 
it  is  no  longer  human  life,  but  it  falls  within  the  scope 
of  natural  history. 

In  the  same  way  the  principle  of  personal  responsi- 
bility which  is  unanimously  conceded  to  govern  the 
whole  ethical  world  and  consequently  occupies  the 
place  of  honor  in  lay  teaching,  is  opposed  to  the  deadly 
principle  of  sacerdotal  tutelage,  the  most  disastrous 
solvent  of  peoples  and  individuals,  is  opposed  to  simple 
control  through  habit,  through  established  custom, 
through  worldly  propriety,  and  is  likewise  opposed 
to  mere  civil  or  religious  training  of  the  mind.  .  .  . 
To  these  ideas  must  be  added  a  better  comprehension 
of  the  solidarity  of  all,  both  great  and  small,  by  way 
of  support  for  the  principle  of  brotherhood  through 


F£LIX  PfiCAUT  63 

inevitable  community  of  interest ;  a  conviction,  grow- 
ing stronger  day  by  day,  that  in  the  long  run  no  one 
in  the  body  politic  can  live,  prosper,  or  even  perfect 
oneself  alone;  that  the  physical  and  moral  destiny 
of  each  is  linked  with  the  destiny  of  all ;  that  we  shall 
perish  together  or  together  work  out  our  salva- 
tion. ...  In  enumerating  all  these  truths  of  our 
belief  or  experience  I  have  not  exhausted  the  subject, 
but  I  have  said  enough  to  show  that  the  soul  of  today 
is  not  left  helpless,  bereft  of  rule,  defense,  or  means  of 
existence.  ...  A  father,  a  lycee  teacher  or  a  school- 
master, a  statesman  or  a  man  of  the  world  can  make 
appeal  to  these  ideas  with  the  certainty  of  awakening 
a  response.  If  they  are  not  a  dogmatic  credo,  they 
are  nevertheless  beliefs  generally  reputed  to  be  good 
coin  of  standard  currency.  Therefore,  without  de- 
ceiving myself  as  to  the  extent  or  depth  of  the  results 
secured,  I  judge  that  the  preaching  (I  use  the  word 
advisedly)  in  the  school  of  numerous  and  ingenious 
manuals  of  morality,  of  ministerial  instructions,  of 
inspectors  in  their  lectures,  and  of  schoolmasters  in 
their  classes,  has  not  remained  sterile.  No  one  will 
deny  that  instruction  has  awakened  a  multitude  of 
minds  to  the  elementary  life  of  the  intelligence;  but 
it  has  done  and  is  doing  more :  it  has  awakened 
personal  powers  in  great  numbers;  better  yet,  in 
order  to  discipline  these  powers,  it  is  in  the  act  of  cre- 
ating the  beginnings  of  moral  and  rational  tradition, 
right  habits  of  mind  and  feeling.  It  is  true  that  this 
is  but  a  beginning,  subject  to  many  vicissitudes ;  the 
results  escape  the  rude  figures  of  statistics;  and 
furthermore  it  is  futile  to  expect  that  a  work  so  new 
and  of  this  character  should  be  achieved  in  a  few  years. 


64      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  PEDAGOGY  i 

Pedagogy  today  is  in  high  favor;  one  could  almost 
say  it  is  fashionable.  A  foreigner  visiting  our  country 
and  reporting  to  his  compatriots  the  most  conspicuous 
feature  he  saw,  that  which  occupies  the  greatest 
number  of  minds,  which  causes  us  to  publish  the 
greatest  number  of  books,  which  seems  to  be  in  honor 
both  in  Parliament  and  in  the  ministries,  at  Paris 
and  in  the  provinces,  in  the  city  and  in  the  village, 
would  run  no  risk  of  making  a  mistake  by  writing  in 
his  memoranda:  "France  is  turning  pedagogue." 
Courses  of  lectures  public  and  private,  higher  normal 
schools,  official  programs,  examinations  of  high  and 
low  degree,  books  on  method,  historical  textbooks, 
collections  of  extracts  —  seemingly  nothing  is  lacking 
that  serves  to  cultivate  the  art  of  education  and  to 
propagate  it.  One  finds  theory,  general  and  special 
method,  the  theory  and  practice  of  education  properly 
so  called,  that  is  to  say  the  manner  of  forming  the 
mind  and  character.  We  make  no  pretense  of  abandon- 
ing anything  to  chance  or  routine.  We  wish  to  an- 
ticipate everything,  to  regulate  everything  according 
to  reason  and  in  the  light  of  history.  This  explains 
the  introduction  into  our  primary  programs  ^  of  certain 
studies,  which  without  exaggeration  may  be  called 
new,  so  great  is  the  importance  they  have  assumed : 
psychology,  or  the  science  of  the  faculties  of  the  mind 
and  their  development,  aided  by  physiology,  which 
brings  out  the  action  of  the  physical  on  the  moral; 

*  USducation  jmblique  et  la  vie  nationale,  pages  53-57. 

*  In  the  programs  of  the  primary  normal  schools. 


FEUX  PECAUT  65 

rational  ethics  or  the  science  of  the  principles  which 
should  regulate  conduct  and  the  motives  which  deter- 
mine the  action  of  the  will;  finally  the  history  of 
pedagogy.  In  the  midst  of  this  topsy-turviness, 
what  becomes  of  the  old-time  schoolmaster?  One 
might  say  he  is  rapidly  becoming  a  relic.  The  "edu- 
cator" is  making  his  advent  in  France,  armed  with 
rational  principles  and  scientific  methods,  no  less  than 
with  technical  knowledge  and  skill. 

Some  good  people  grow  anxious  at  the  sight  of  this 
flood  of  primary  pedagogy,  which  seems  to  continue 
to  rise.  If  we  take  their  word  for  it,  they  are  some- 
times tempted  to  regret  the  old  master  and  his  humble 
routine;  or  rather  they  invoke  common  sense  and 
experience  to  combat  the  peril  of  a  new  scholasticism, 
more  refined  than  the  old,  and  they  think  the  more 
to  be  dreaded  in  proportion  as  its  processes  are  more 
methodic. 

However,  in  matters  like  this  we  must  not  abandon 
ourselves  to  ill  humor  or  base  our  judgments  upon 
impressions  alone.  How  can  we  refuse  to  recognize 
that  there  is  a  science  and  an  art  of  education,  until 
now  too  much  neglected  in  their  application  to  primary 
work  ?  In  other  words,  how  can  we  refuse  to  recognize 
that  there  is  a  unity  of  principles,  general  rules,  and 
processes  of  application  founded  upon  the  observation 
of  human  nature;  that  this  observation,  whether 
psychological  or  physiological  or  moral,  should  con- 
form to  the  rules  of  scientific  experiment  in  order  to 
arrive  at  positive  results ;  that  this  art  has  its  boughs 
and  branches  (teaching  and  education,  physical,  intel- 
lectual, moral,  aesthetic)  which  in  turn  have  special 


66      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

rules  due  to  their  particular  purpose  or  to  the  faculties 
they  bring  into  play?  Is  it  not  obvious  that  there 
is  a  good  and  a  bad  way  to  conceive  and  direct  edu- 
cation in  general;  that  there  is  also  an  art  of  teach- 
ing history  or  literature  well,  which  is  not  the  art 
of  teaching  mathematics,  and  which  varies  according 
to  the  age  of  the  pupil;  that  there  are  good  and  bad 
methods  in  developing  or  correcting  the  observation, 
the  judgment,  the  moral  sense,  the  imagination;  but 
that  all  those  branches  are  joined  to  a  common  trunk, 
which  itself  depends  upon  a  certain  instinctive  or  de- 
liberative way  of  considering  man's  nature  and  destiny  ? 
What  is  all  that  if  not  pedagogy?  And  can  one  be 
afraid  of  making  it  too  rational,  that  is  to  say,  too 
much  in  conformity  with  reality,  with  human  nature 
closely  and  methodically  observed  ? 

In  the  same  way  is  it  not  apparent  to  everybody 
that  good  sense,  or  pedagogical  sense  which  is  merely 
an  application  thereof,  can  gain  in  acuteness  and 
accuracy  only  if  it  is  trained  to  control  individual 
experience  by  collective  experience,  that  of  the  present 
by  that  of  the  past;  if  it  is  accustomed  by  this  com- 
parison the  better  to  distinguish  the  substantial 
from  the  specious,  the  natural  from  the  arbitrary, 
the  unfruitful  germs  from  those  that  are  fertile  ?  What 
is  more  reasonable  than  to  ask  the  teachers  who  have 
preceded  us  for  examples  and  advice,  and  instead  of 
foolishly  making  a  clean  sweep  of  the  past  to  estab- 
lish the  present  upon  it  as  far  as  possible,  striving 
particularly  to  understand  our  national  temperament  ? 
All  this  is  the  history  of  pedagogical  theory  applied 
to  education. 


FfiLIX  PECAUT  67 

People  should  not  imagine,  then,  that  it  is  a  proof 
of  good  sense  or  intelligence  to  decry  this  new  science. 
It  is  new  only  in  the  importance  given  it  today  as  a 
very  natural  consequence  of  the  necessities  of  our 
democratic  and  lay  regime.  Pedagogy  is  quite  as 
French  as  it  is  German  or  English.  We  seek  in  vain 
for  a  reason  why  we  should  cede  to  others  any  privi- 
lege in  this  domain,  we  who  have  kept  school  during 
the  last  three  centuries  with  teachers  like  Rabelais, 
Montaigne,  Jacques  Rousseau,  Madame  Necker  de 
Saussure,  Pere  Girard,  and  the  like.  Certainly  if 
there  is  a  tradition  that  deserves  to  be  called  French, 
and  for  which  even  foreigners  honor  us,  it  is  precisely 
our  pedagogical  tradition.  It  would  be  strange  if 
on  the  pretext  of  patriotism  we  should  be  forbidden 
in  the  name  of  our  national  good  sense  to  continue  it. 

Nevertheless,  closer  examination  may  reveal  that 
the  apprehensions  one  sometimes  hears  expressed 
may  not  be  without  foundation.  People  are  right 
in  thinking  that  principles,  rules,  methods,  science, 
theoretical  or  practical,  experimental  or  historical, 
in  a  word  pedagogy,  far  from  being  everything  in 
education,  do  not  constitute  the  principal  factors, 
that  they  are  but  simple  auxiliaries.  In  this  matter 
the  most  abundant  and  correct  knowledge,  the  methods 
best  guaranteed  by  experience  and  history,  do  not 
take  the  place  of  the  greatest  of  pedagogical  qualities, 
which  is  the  freedom  of  movement,  the  talent  of  rapid 
and  sure  observation  possessed  by  a  healthy,  well- 
cultivated  mind  which  is  not  a  slave  to  any  method  or 
the  dupe  of  any  process,  a  mind  which  without  scrupu- 
lousness <renews  its  means  of  expression  and  action 


68      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

and  obeys  in  this  an  inner  logic  more  supple  and 
varied  in  aspect  and  not  less  restricted  than  the  logic 
of  the  school. 

It  is  precisely  this  sovereign  liberty  of  the  mind,  this 
spontaneous  activity,  this  ever-alert  curiosity,  this 
faculty  of  creation,  or,  to  put  it  more  modestly,  of 
invention,  of  improvement,  and  continual  renewal 
that  we  may  well  fear  to  see  cramped,  dwarfed,  and 
warped,  if  not  stifled,  by  too  complicated  a  scientific 
apparatus.  This  multitude  of  rules  and  methods 
might  easily  weaken  all  original  activity  in  the  teacher 
and  at  the  same  time  hide  from  him  uijder  a  wealth 
of  description  the  real  human  nature  or  even  the 
individual  nature  with  which  he  has  to  deal.  On  the 
one  hand,  it  is  possible  that  the  personal  buoyancy 
of  teacher  and  pupil  be  depressed  by  it,  and  on  the 
other  that  scientific  formulas  take  the  place  of  the 
true  life  and  the  rich  diversity  of  the  mind. 

Historical  pedagogy  itself,  which  is  so  well  adapted 
to  preserve  us  from  errors  already  condemned  by 
experience,  performs  the  invaluable  service  of  fecun- 
dating our  national  genius  by  infusing  into  it  at  the 
right  moment  that  which  is  best  in  the  genius  of  the 
foreigner.  It  also  risks  diverting  us  from  our  natural 
path  and  enervating  us  by  giving  us  the  habit  of 
imitation.  Doubtless  it  is  good  for  us,  under  penalty 
of  suffering  the  ordinary  effects  of  isolation,  to  enter 
into  close  relations  with  the  nations  that  have  given 
us  proof  of  vitality,  like  Germany,  Switzerland,  Eng- 
land, and  the  United  States.  Foreign  writers  often 
recommend  themselves  to  us  by  their  manner  of  con- 
sidering educational  matters,   either  more  profound, 


FfiLIX  PECAUT  69 

more  subjective  in  a  way  than  ours,  or  more  practical, 
less  disinterested  in  taking  cognizance  of  educational 
matters.  But  who  does  not  see  that  we  should  gain 
little  in  allowing  ourselves  to  be  carried  away  by  the 
too  systematic  thinking  of  the  Germans,  by  the  posi- 
tivistic  and  utilitarian  spirit  of  the  English,  by  the 
narrow  religious  dogmatism  of  certain  Swiss  peda- 
gogues, or  the  exclusively  practical  spirit  of  the  Ameri- 
cans? So  many  diverse  influences  operating  simul- 
taneously on  different  sides  can  enrich  or  impoverish 
us,  stimulate  or  enervate  us,  cloud  our  minds  or  clarify 
them,  take  us  out  of  our  natural  element  or  establish 
us  in  it  upon  a  broader  foundation. 

THE  WOMAN  NORMAL  SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL  ^ 


A  CONSIDERABLE  change  has  taken  place  in  the  last 
few  years.  Formerly  the  women  principals  of  normal 
schools  and  normal  courses  practically  played  the 
parts  of  absolute  monarchs  in  their  institutions.  Re- 
mote from  the  public  eye,  they  treated  their  teachers, 
modest  assistants  or  subalterns,  with  a  high  hand, 
bending  everything  to  their  will.  Today,  however, 
these  same  principals  have  to  reckon  with  everybody, 
with  a  prying  press,  with  a  public  opinion  constantly 
on  the  alert,  and  especially  with  their  teachers.  These 
latter,  who  have  received  the  same  culture  as  the 
principals,  are  able  to  gauge  the  true  value  of  their 
superiors,  and  while  according  them  the  obedience 
due  their  position,  withhold  their  respect  if  it  is  not 

1  V6ducation  publique  el  la  vie  nationale,  pages  163-177. 


70      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

deserved.  The  same  revolution  (the  word  is  not 
too  strong)  which  has  taken  place  in  political  life, 
in  the  family,  in  the  relations  between  workman  and 
employer,  is  likewise  coming  to  pass  in  public  educa- 
tion, whence  gradually  it  wdll  also  extend  to  private 
schools.  The  authority  necessarily  attached  to  the 
oflSce  of  the  principal  has  value  in  the  long  run  only 
if  it  is  accompanied  by  personal  superiority. 

This  superiority  from  which  no  minister  can  excuse 
the  principal  does  not  rest  upon  excellence  of  special 
knowledge  or  talent.  One  can  meet,  and  one  does 
meet  every  day,  teachers  who  unquestionably  have 
the  advantage  in  this  respect.  But  the  real  superi- 
ority, that  which  eventually  makes  all  heads  bow  before 
it,  is  a  superiority  of  reason,  of  character,  and  of  heart. 
**That  is  demanding  a  great  deal,"  you  may  say. 
To  be  sure,  but  it  is  not  too  much  to  meet  the  needs 
of  a  position  full  of  embarrassing  situations  and 
responsibilities.  Furthermore,  if  it  be  true  that 
natural  gifts,  and  in  particular  a  certain  innate  gift 
of  command,  coimt  for  something  in  education,  the 
qualities  that  can  be  acquired  by  dint  of  open-minded- 
ness,  modesty,  and  application  have  quite  another 
value.  It  often  happens  that  natural  gifts  quickly 
degenerate  and  render  mediocre  service  when  they 
are  not  supplemented  by  a  moral  culture  that  is  con- 
stant and  steadfast. 

I  understand  by  superiority  of  reason,  the  ability  to 
discern  clearly  among  things,  persons,  and  characters, 
between  the  general  situation  and  the  particular 
case,  among  diverse  interests  in  every  line,  the  clear 
and  constant  vision  of  the  higher  principle  that  must 


FfiLIX  PfiCAUT  71 

be  made  to  prevail,  the  view  of  the  whole,  and  of  the 
salient  points  in  that  whole,  the  view  of  the  relation, 
among  all  the  divisions  of  instruction  and  education, 
to  essential  unity.  When  this  superiority  of  reason 
is  combined  with  a  firm  and  flexible  will,  one  easily 
recognizes  it,  for  it  is  the  best,  the  only  guarantee  of 
justice,  and  a  small,  restricted  society  like  a  State 
needs  justice  before  all  else.  A  principal  in  whom 
one  is  sure  of  finding  neither  prejudice  nor  caprice 
nor  unevenness  of  temper  nor  hasty  judgment,  who 
does  not  give  way  to  the  impression  of  the  moment, 
who  does  not  swamp  herself  in  details,  who  keeps  her 
mind  far  above  the  inevitable  worry  and  friction  of 
everyday  life,  who  judges  each  one  by  general  con- 
duct and  not  by  accidental  incidents,  who  moreover 
shows  herself  capable  of  wisely  regulating  the  progress 
of  the  work,  such  a  directress  we  can  be  sure  will  not 
lack  for  authority. 

Perhaps  we  shall  tighten  the  knot  still  more  by 
insisting  upon  the  general  purpose,  that  higher  prin- 
ciple whose  necessity  we  noted  a  moment  ago.  It 
cannot  be  said  too  often  that  there  is  no  true  instruc- 
tion or  education  where  there  is  no  spirit  of  education, 
that  is  to  say,  an  aim  which  dominates  everything. 
The  aim  in  certain  schools  is  success  in  examinations, 
in  admission  to  the  higher  schools,  or  appointment  to 
government  positions.  For  this,  no  doubt,  there  is 
need  of  order,  police  control,  strict  discipline,  work 
performed  under  close  and  regular  supervision,  with 
lessons  adapted  to  the  end  in  view.  All  these  things 
are  useful  and  have  a  value,  but  they  are  not  educa- 
tion.    They  belong  to  industry,  a  useful  and  well- 


72       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

organized  industry,  to  a  well-constructed  intellectual 
machine.  Furthermore,  it  is  proposed  to  cultivate 
the  mind,  to  furnish  young  people  with  good  habits 
and  good  maxims,  to  make  them  well-bred  men  and 
women,  accustomed  to  good  manners  and  the  observ- 
ance of  social  proprieties.  The  means  are  adapted 
to  the  end.  In  the  absence  of  a  higher  purpose,  it  is 
a  commonplace  purpose  which  dominates;  or  rather 
it  is  a  sort  of  mechanism,  coarse  or  refined,  rudi- 
mentary or  scientific,  which  is  substituted  for  the  spirit, 
in  other  words  for  life  itself,  for  the  untrammeled 
action  of  the  intelligence,  for  calling  forth  the  soul's 
vital  forces,  and  among  all  these  forces  of  that  moral 
conscience  without  which  the  personality  remains 
diffuse  and  scattered. 

The  spirit  of  education,  as  understood  in  our  normal 
schools,  proposes,  besides  the  obvious  and  useful 
end  of  practical  knowledge,  an  end  which  is  not  appre- 
ciated by  the  uninitiated,  and  is  apparently  useless. 
It  aims  to  form  upright  minds  and  firm  characters, 
to  train  men  and  women  capable  of  acting  in  accord- 
ance wdth  reason  and  justice,  and  fitted  to  take  their 
places  in  a  democratic  and  liberal  society.  It  is  to 
this  spirit  that  the  mechanism  of  theories,  formulas, 
methods,  rules,  precepts,  and  habits  of  every  sort, 
whether  pedagogic,  scientific,  or  moral,  should  be 
subject.  Finally,  it  is  this  spirit  which  directs  the 
organization  of  all  school  practices;  without  it  they 
would  be  powerless  and  practically  non-existent. 
It  is  this  spirit  which  creates  our  school  organization, 
renews  it  after  its  own  ideal,  modifies  and  remodels 
it  as  necessity  demands.     In  France  we  are  fanatics 


FfiLIX  PECAUT  73 

on  the  subject  of  organization,  with  our  decrees,  pro- 
grams, and  regulations.  We  are  as  insistent  upon 
it  in  educational  matters  as  in  political,  social,  and 
penal  reforms.  It  would  be  enough  to  respect  this 
organization,  to  recognize  its  necessity,  and  to  give 
it  our  constant  attention  without,  however,  forgetting 
that  it  is  from  the  soul  that  life  proceeds. 

If  all  this  be  true,  it  is  clearly  apparent  that  the 
principal  of  a  normal  school,  that  is  to  say  of  a  school 
which  sets  the  standard  for  all  the  primary  schools, 
will  have  an  influence  that  is  proof  against  inevitable 
accidents  as  well  as  against  her  own  weakness  only 
so  far  as  the  spirit  of  education  is  realized  and  in  a 
manner  personified  in  her.  Through  all  the  difficulties 
of  everyday  life  she  is  and  remains  in  the  eyes  of  her 
teachers  and  pupils  the  respected  mistress,  only  in 
so  far  as  she  shows  herself  obedient  to  this  spirit. 
Therein  should  lie  her  real,  her  inner  influence,  which 
alone  confers  on  her  the  right  to  lead  those  about  her. 
People  submit  without  a  murmur.  In  the  end  they 
even  cordially  adapt  themselves  to  a  control  which 
is  not  only  reasonable  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but  which 
expresses  a  higher  and  more  universal  purpose  than 
immediate  and  tangible  utility,  such  for  instance  as 
success  in  examinations.  Such  an  aim,  an  educa- 
tional purpose  which  on  one  side  touches  the  very 
sources  of  moral  life,  and  on  the  other  the  temporary 
or  permanent  needs  of  the  people  and  the  fatherland, 
becomes  the  true  standard  of  the  school,  rendering 
each  one's  task  easy,  sweetening  daily  intercourse, 
relieving  the  monotony  of  work,  cheering  the  heart, 
and  prolonging  youth.     Is  there  anything  surprising 


74   FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  Ii:)EALS  OF  TODAY 

in  all  that,  since  it  also  lends  a  soul  to  the  community  ? 
And  where  can  one  learn  of  such  a  purpose  if  it  is  not 
read  in  living  characters  in  the  entire  person  and  con- 
duct of  the  principal  ? 

To  be  in  one's  heart  of  hearts,  and  in  the  habitual 
attitude  of  one's  soul,  what  one  strives  to  appear, 
what  one  professes,  what  one's  function  implies  — 
let  us  not  seek  elsewhere  this  intimate  secret  of  moral 
ascendancy.  Heads  of  schools  must  not  forget  that 
they  are  objects  of  perpetual  investigation.  On  all 
sides  people  are  watching  them,  measuring  them,  and 
judging  them,  setting  aside  all  prestige  and  reduc- 
ing them  to  their  exact  valuation.  K  people  excuse 
them  for  being  neither  learned  nor  eloquent  nor  clever 
administrators,  they  will  not  pardon  them  for  belying 
inwardly,  in  character  or  in  temperament,  the  repu- 
tation that  they  have  managed  to  acquire  outside. 
Their  infallible  judges  are  neither  the  inspectors  nor 
the  rectors ;  they  are  the  teachers  and  the  pupils. 
Principals  may  give  a  misleading  impression  to  the 
former ;  they  cannot  deceive  the  latter.  As  prudence 
sometimes  seals  the  lips  of  friendly  witnesses  when 
it  does  not  prompt  flattering  testimony,  it  happens 
that  the  principal  in  deceiving  her  superiors,  deceives 
herself.  She  does  not  realize  that  all  her  authority 
comes  to  her  from  without,  and  that  in  the  eyes  of 
her  subordinates  she  is  merely  the  administrator  of 
a  State  institution.  Sincerity,  in  the  fundamental 
meaning  of  the  word,  is  the  cardinal  virtue  for  who- 
ever presumes  to  train  young  people. 

Let  us  go  a  step  further.  To  what  is  this  sincerity 
reduced,   this   essential   condition   of   authority,   this 


FfiLlX  PfiCAUT  75 

agreement  between  being  and  seeming  to  be,  if  the 
being  itself  is  inert  and  lacking  in  force  and  warmth; 
in  other  words,  if  the  external  life  being  vigorous  and 
proper,  the  inner  existence,  the  real  personal  life,  is 
devoid  of  thought  and  sentiment,  if  the  mind  and  soul 
are  destitute  of  proper  functioning  ?  ^ 

What  remains,  then,  except  to  play  a  part,  an  honest 
one  no  doubt,  but  one  that  cannot  be  transmitted  to 
others  since  it  is  lacking  in  truth?  An  attenuated 
inner  life  soon  betrays  its  barrenness  when  it  is  reduced 
to  mere  notions,  to  reminiscences,  to  vague  impres- 
sions, when  it  is  not  renewed  day  by  day  in  medita- 
tive reflection,  and  when  it  cuts  itself  off  from  present- 
day  life  of  nation  or  people. 

n 

To  direct  is  doubtless  to  regulate  —  that  is,  to  put 
each  thing  in  its  proper  place  and  to  hold  each  indi- 
vidual to  his  duty  ;  but  before  all  else  its  function 
is  to  inspire,  to  imbue  all  with  a  common  spirit.  Where 
there  is  no  inspiration  there  is  no  education,  no,  not 
even  fruitful  intellectual  activity.  What  remains 
is  but  a  school  workshop  where  human  tools  are  per- 
fected in  view  of  the  most  useful  possible  production. 
In  a  shop  of  this  sort  the  principal  is  only  the  chief 
skilled  mechanic,  or  if  one  prefers  a  more  flattering 
designation,  the  more  or  less  skilled  engineer.  An  edu- 
cational establishment  should  be  a  living  organism 
which  carries  within  itself  its  motivating  principle, 
its  own  soul.  To  set  this  soul  free  in  full  light  of  day 
is  the  function  of  the  directress. 

To  inspire,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  add,  is  not  to 


76      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

dominate  minds  and  consciences,  nor  to  ask  of  others 
the  sacrifice  of  judgment  or  of  wiU.  That  is  pedagogical 
immorality  and  impiety.  To  inspire,  on  the  contrary, 
is  to  free,  to  stimulate  thought,  feeling,  and  personal 
energy  in  others.  It  is  to  awaken  dormant  forces 
giving  them  a  high  purpose  to  realize.  A  principal 
who  washes  to  be  everything  in  her  house,  who  tries  to 
make  her  views  prevail  without  discussion  and  without 
reservation,  is  exerting  a  pressure  doubly  suffocating, 
since  it  dwarfs  the  mind  as  well  as  the  conduct. 

Neither  is  it  inspiring  to  surround  young  souls  with 
an  insinuating  tenderness,  to  enervate  them  by  a  sort 
of  continuous  hj^notic  suggestion,  and  reduce  them 
to  an  effacement  of  themselves,  the  more  dangerous 
in  proportion  as  it  has  the  appearance  of  liberty. 
The  expression  of  Vauvenargues :  "Servitude  lowers 
men  to  the  point  of  making  itself  loved  by  them," 
so  true  where  politics  and  religion  are  concerned, 
is  no  less  true  in  education.  If  this  can  be  verified 
in  ecclesiastical  houses  of  either  sex,  it  deserves  like- 
wise to  be  considered  in  lay  schools  for  girls,  where 
the  teachers  wish  to  be  loved,  instead  of  being  merely 
respected,  where  the  pupils  willingly  respond  to  this 
desire,  and  where  the  temptation  may  come  to  the 
principal  to  take  imibrage  at  the  affection  shown 
her  colleagues,  and  to  claim  for  herself  a  privileged 
position  in  the  affection  of  her  pupils.  In  view  of 
the  diflSculties  and  occasional  perils  of  semi-public 
life  and  the  hardships  inseparable  from  their  profes- 
sion, our  young  teachers  need  primarily  to  be  fortified 
with  strength  of  character.  At  the  normal  school 
they  must  not  breathe  an  air  of  languor  and  senti- 


FELIX  PECAUT  77 

mentality.  No  doubt  the  directress  who  could  only 
command  and  teach  without  knowing  how  to  love 
and  make  herself  loved  would  be  unfit  for  her  duty. 
If  one  could  fathom  the  secret  of  every  great  educator, 
one  might  expect  to  find  a  great  capacity  for  loving. 
But  I  am  speaking  of  a  real  love,  a  love  mingled  with 
respect  and  discretion,  not  of  a  languorous  and  ener- 
vating affection,  and  still  less  of  an  egotistic  and  capri- 
cious affection,  which  is  spent  on  favorites,  teachers 
or  pupils,  instead  of  spreading  over  the  entire  school 
and  extending  to  all  mutual  respect  and  courage  for 
the  daily  task,  in  addition  to  a  feeling  of  security 
and  happy  confidence. 

Neither  does  inspiration  come  from  preaching. 
Speech  is  without  doubt  the  greatest  instrument  of 
persuasion  and  reasoning.  Aside,  however,  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  not  the  only  instrument,  that  physiog- 
nomy, bearing,  and  even  silence  have  their  eloquence, 
speech  is  the  more  effective  the  more  it  blends  with 
the  real  individual  instead  of  being  the  mere  verbal 
expression  of  teacher  or  principal.  One  who  has  no 
serious  influence  may  excel  in  fine  speaking.  The 
girls  quickly  perceive  that  she  delights  in  mere  talk- 
ing, that  she  puts  into  it  her  intelligence  and  literary 
sense  and  not  her  soul,  that  she  gives  at  the  very  most 
her  ideas  but  not  herself,  because  previously  she  has 
not  devoted  herself  unreservedly  to  truth  and  duty. 
Simplicity,  that  is,  perfect  truthfulness  of  the  heart, 
mind,  and  language,  will  always  be  the  virtue  par 
excellence  of  a  woman  intrusted  with  the  education 
of  children,  be  she  mother  or  teacher.  Indeed,  what 
is  it  to  be  simple,  if  not  to  impart  one's  whole  self 


78      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

just  as  it  is,  to  make  the  gift  of  self,  not  merely  of 
one's  knowledge  or  talent,  and  in  the  magnificent 
words  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  to  "penetrate  into  the 
soul  of  others  and  let  others  penetrate  into  our  soul"? 
Who  would  not  yield  in  the  long  run  to  an  influence 
of  this  sort?  People  resist  those  who  preach,  but 
surrender  to  him  who  surrenders  himself.  However, 
to  surrender  the  self,  it  is  necessary  to  possess  it  and 
not  to  become  estranged  from  it  under  penalty  of 
giving  others  but  a  shadow  of  one's  personality. 
So  we  come  back  by  this  detour  to  the  supreme  neces- 
sity, that  of  an  active,  uninterrupted  inner  life. 

We  must  not  grow  tired  of  insisting,  for  this  is  a 
capital  point.  A  principal  who  practices  this  inner 
life  will  be  promptly  warned  of  her  mistakes  and 
defects.  She  will  not  allow  herself  to  be  imposed  upon 
by  the  deference,  the  flattery,  or  the  silence  of  her 
teachers.  She  will  see  more  clearly  than  any  one 
else  into  herself  and  into  her  conduct.  She  will  not 
allow  a  court  to  be  formed  around  her.  However 
disposed  she  may  be  to  "penetrate  others  and  let 
herself  be  penetrated,"  she  will  not  forget  the  reserve 
in  which  a  woman  should  unceasingly  wrap  herself 
as  in  a  veil,  a  necessary  protection  at  once  against 
herself  and  against  others.  She  will  apply  herself 
all  the  more  thoroughly  to  becoming  her  own  mistress, 
the  more  liberally  she  is  obliged  to  give  of  herself. 
She  will  know  better  than  to  affect  the  airs  of  a  sover- 
eign or  an  administrator  of  high  rank  for  whom  the 
whole  school  rises  as  often  as  she  deigns  to  appear; 
but  she  will  not  make  herself  the  comrade  of  her 
pupils  nor  the  confidante  of  her  teachers.     It  will  be 


FfiUX  PfiCAUT  79 

enough  for  her  to  be  their  friends.  She  will  know 
how  to  observe  in  her  whole  manner,  in  her  carriage, 
and  in  the  details  of  her  dress,  the  dignity  which  warns 
every  one  to  remain  in  his  place  and  prevents  the 
familiarity  of  life  in  common  from  degenerating  into 
an  ordinary  pell-mell. 

She  will  never  fall  into  the  ridiculous  defect,  pos- 
sessed by  more  than  one  teacher,  of  believing  herself 
to  be  of  higher  rank  than  her  pupils,  as  if  all  teachers 
of  both  sexes  did  not  come  of  plebeian  stock.  But 
she  will  not  neglect  an  important  part  of  her  task  as 
teacher,  which  is  to  train  her  pupils  to  be  courteous, 
to  have  good  taste,  refinement  of  manners  and  lan- 
guage, all  that  marks  the  external  characteristic  of  a 
well-brought-up  woman.  Without  haughtiness  or  af- 
fectation she  will  set  her  teachers  an  example  of  act- 
ing as  an  elder  sister  or  a  mother.  She  will  enter 
unaffectedly  into  all  the  details  of  dressing  room,  din- 
ing hall,  and  dormitory.  She  will  not  make  herself 
ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  sensible  people  by  not  accom- 
panying the  pupils  on  their  walks,  as  if  this  mark 
of  maternal  affection  toward  those  whom  she  calls 
"her  daughters"  made  her  fall  from  her  high  rank. 
Of  all  the  pernicious  examples  she  can  set  before  her 
teachers  none  is  as  bad  as  that ;  none  will  more  surely 
and  more  justly  ruin  her  in  the  estimation  of  her 
pupils ;  for  she  will  thus  have  disclosed  the  measure 
of  her  small  mind  and  her  still  smaller  soul. 

Ill 

I  have  said  nothing  as  yet  of  the  moral  teaching 
which  the  regulations  have  intrusted  to  the  principal. 


80       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

For  more  than  one  reason  these  are  assuredly  most 
important  of  all.  It  is  not  only  because  moral  teach- 
ing gives  the  reasons  and  the  rules  for  living;  it  is 
also  because  in  giving  them  it  brings  the  cumbrous 
and  discordant  variety  of  the  diverse  subjects  into 
a  certain  unity.  It  marks  a  center,  the  very  focus 
of  the  conscience,  where  among  all  the  theoretical 
and  technical  applications  of  the  intelligence,  the 
real  man  is  formed.  Principals  of  normal  schools 
are  not  mistaken  about  the  importance  and  peculiar 
dignity  of  this  part  of  their  task  any  more  than  in 
regard  to  its  extreme  difficulty.  They  know  very  well 
that  teaching  of  such  a  serious  character  is  not  a 
simple  subject  on  the  program  among  other  subjects; 
they  know  it  is  the  very  crux  of  all  education.  They 
feel  that  while  imposing  a  heavy  burden,  it  confers 
a  privilege,  and  that  exemption  from  it  would  divest 
them  of  their  principal  influence. 

As  moral  and  lay  teaching  is  the  most  characteristic 
feature  of  our  recent  primary  organization,  so  nothing 
distinguishes  the  normal  schools  of  today  from  those 
of  yesterday  more  than  the  assignment  of  this  instruc- 
tion to  the  principal.  This  secularization  of  moral 
instruction  which  has  been  brought  about  in  our 
schools  seems  a  novelty  full  of  promise,  however 
modest  and  perhaps  mediocre  in  method  and  results 
it  may  appear  at  present.  Consider  well  that  it  is 
the  superior  of  the  establishment  himself,  the  master 
of  its  discipline  and  studies,  who  is  called  to  speak  of 
truths  and  moral  laws  on  his  own  responsibility,  as  of 
things  in  which  he  believes,  which  he  holds  to  be  as 
valid  as  all  the  other  subjects  that  he  teaches  in  the 


FfiLIX  PECAUT  81 

school  and  for  which  he  pledges  himself.  One  cannot 
measure  the  weight  of  an  honest  man's  simple,  earnest 
words  placed  at  the  service  of  the  highest  moral  prin- 
ciples, when  this  honest  man  is  a  teacher  whose  knowl- 
edge inspires  confidence.  He  does  not  need  to  be  a 
philosopher  or  an  orator  to  make  himself  heard;  his 
yes  and  his  no  are  authoritative.  Drawing  moral 
truths  into  the  circle  of  ordinary  teaching  is  not  lower- 
ing or  impoverishing  them;  it  is  treating  them  as 
something  real  and  serious,  as  first  among  the  real 
and  serious  subjects  touched  upon  in  the  school. 

Again,  it  is  necessary  that  these  lessons  be  given 
in  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  instituted,  in  a  spirit 
of  sincerity  and  practical  earnestness,  and  that  the 
more  particularly  feminine  gifts  of  moral  intuition, 
intellectual  modesty,  and  sensibility  be  mingled  with 
the  qualities  of  seriousness  and  strict  method  that  such 
a  teaching  demands.  Is  anything  more  disagreeable 
or  less  practical  than  to  hear  a  woman  recite  (when  she 
does  not  dictate  it)  a  course  in  moral  instruction,  parts 
of  which  a  shrewd  schoolgirl  would  easily  find  in 
several  well-known  textbooks,  or  to  hear  her  treat 
the  things  of  the  soul  and  of  human  destiny  with  a 
dryness  of  method,  language,  and  voice  which  would 
not  even  become  a  teacher  of  mathematics,  or  to  see 
her  display,  with  regard  to  ideas  of  life  or  death,  her 
brilliant  facility  of  speech  or  the  treasures  of  her 
memory  ?  Dryness  in  such  subjects  or  mere  rhetorical 
treatment  is  disagreeable  enough  in  a  man ;  how  much 
more  so  in  a  woman  whom  one  expects  to  treat  these 
subjects  with  modesty,  simplicity,  and  seriousness, 
associating  with  the  demonstrations  of  reason  "those 


82      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

reasons  of  the  heart  which  reason  does  not  always 
understand  '* !  If  she  is  merely  a  fine  speaker,  she 
will  promptly  wear  out  her  credit,  and  her  prestige 
will  be  riddled  by  intelligent  young  women.  But  if 
she  thinks  before  speaking,  if  she  feels  what  she  has 
thought,  if  she  teaches  under  the  dictation  of  her 
whole  soul  and  most  intimate  experience,  if  in  a  word 
her  character  and  her  habitual  conduct  accord  with 
her  teaching,  one  may  be  sure  that,  even  with  the 
most  mediocre  talent,  she  will  have  and  will  hold  the 
ear  of  her  pupils.  The  teacher  of  moral  instruction 
will  become  what  was  intended  when  this  subject 
was  introduced  into  the  schools,  the  chief  ethical 
guide. 

IV 

From  whatever  side  we  approach  the  subject,  we 
are  led  to  recognize  how  important  it  is  that  the  prin- 
cipal, while  retaining  the  feelings  and  the  ways  of  her 
sex,  should  possess  in  sufficient  measure  certain  quali- 
ties of  strength  and  reason  which  mistakenly  pass 
for  qualities  exclusively  virile.  According  to  the 
judicious  advice  of  Madame  Necker  de  Saussure, 
"Woman  must  accustom  half  her  mind  to  wait  for  the 
other  half."  Neither  sentiment  nor  impression,  much 
less  mobile  and  capricious  feeling,  should  be  allowed 
to  gain  the  advantage  over  reflection.  According 
to  the  same  writer,  "We  love  to  feel  that  under  a 
feminine  envelope  there  breathes  a  moral  being,  one 
capable  of  habitually  showing  that  strength  without 
rigidity  which  the  word  self-command  defines." 

In  considering  the  education  of  girls,  the  writers 


FfiLIX  PfiCAUT  83 

who  have  discussed  woman's  peculiar  disposition 
have  not  called  sufficient  attention  to  all  the  energy, 
courage,  perseverance,  good  sense,  and  foresight 
that  a  great  many  women,  especially  the  plebeian, 
display  before  our  eyes  in  the  management  of  their 
homes,  as  well  as  their  firmness  and  dignity  in  difficult 
situations.  Living  in  a  select  society,  they  almost 
always  have  in  view  only  "society"  girls,  delicate 
physically  and  morally,  better  fitted  to  be  the  orna- 
ment of  elegant  assemblies  than  the  assiduous  and 
vigilant  guardians  of  the  home  and  the  valiant  teachers 
of  their  children. 

If  the  principal  is  animated  by  this  spirit  of  strength 
and  tenderness  combined  with  reason  and  grace,  she 
will  not  be  tempted  to  play  the  great  lady;  she  will 
be  the  mother  first  of  all.  While  stooping  and  mak- 
ing her  pupils  stoop  to  the  commonest  household 
tasks,  she  will  know  how  to  show  that  they  are  not 
incompatible  with  the  most  serious  culture  of  the 
mind  and  with  real  distinction.  Receiving  the  hum- 
blest families  with  a  simple  and  dignified  cordiality, 
she  will  show  that  real  superiority  does  not  affect 
aristocratic  manners,  and  that  it  is  possible  to  raise 
,  oneself  intellectually  and  to  raise  one's  standard  of 
living  without  the  risk  of  losing  social  position  thereby. 
She  will  likewise  beware  of  confounding  seriousness 
with  forbidding  austerity.  Education  does  not  elimi- 
nate gaiety.  Hence  the  first  condition  of  learning  to 
live  is  to  have  the  inclination  to  live  and  not  to  despair 
in  advance  of  destiny,  whether  of  mankind  or  of  one- 
self. Whoever  has  not  a  certain  reserve  of  optimism 
deep  down  in  his  mind  will  not  have  fruitful  influence 


84      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

upon  young  people,  for  the  essential  instinct  of  young 
people  is  to  enjoy  life  and  to  blossom  out  completely 
in  its  enjoyment.  In  vain  you  will  flatter  yourself 
that  you  redeem  this  lack  of  confidence  in  life  by 
strict  application  to  duty  and  even  by  self-sacrifice. 
Your  pupils  need  life  and  warmth;  they  need  joy; 
and  how  can  you  impart  to  them  what  you  lack  your- 
self.? You  speak  to  them  of  duty;  you  show  them 
the  example.  That  is  well;  it  is  the  principal  thing, 
provided  that  duty  imply  love,  confidence,  and  cour- 
age. But  joy  alone  gives  wings  to  the  soul,  and  Chris- 
tianity itself,  which  inspired  the  sadness  of  a  Pascal, 
well  understood  man's  nature,  when  after  having 
made  the  happiness  of  being  at  peace  with  God  the 
hidden  motive  of  activity,  it  dared  say  to  him,  "Be 
always  joyful." 

May  we  be  permitted  to  suggest  that  there  is  per- 
haps one  feature  lacking,  and  not  the  least  important 
one  at  that,  in  this  picture  of  the  directress  which  we 
are  attempting  to  draw.f*  To  ask  that  she  have, 
besides  a  trained  mind,  a  soul  that  is  simple  and  close 
to  the  people,  a  soul  that  is  noble  and  generous,  ca- 
pable of  understanding  the  diversity  of  situations,  of 
characters,  of  types  of  mind;  to  ask  that  she  forget 
herself,  make  herself  all  things  to  all  men ;  is  not  that 
saying  in  other  words  that  she  will  have  a  religious 
soul;  that  in  each  one  of  her  daughters  she  will  see 
the  eternal  through  the  ephemeral;  that  beyond  ex- 
ternal gifts  or  gifts  of  intelligence  and  imagination 
and  practical  aptitudes,  beyond  all  that  which  is 
obviously  pleasing  in  them,  she  will  know  how  to  seek 
out  and  cultivate  that  which  forms  the  mysterious 


FfiLIX  PfiCAUT  85 

basis  of  feminine  nature  and  its  dignity,  as  well  as 
the  dignity  of  mankind  in  general,  in  other  words, 
the  feeling  of  an  infinite  God  present  in  our  individual 
existence  and  transitory  destiny,  and,  to  use  the 
expression  of  Pascal,  "at  the  same  time  above  us 
and  within  us"?  That  this  feeling  may  not  assume 
the  regular  form  of  an  ecclesiastical  or  philosophical 
doctrine,  we  will  readily  admit.  After  having  dared 
to  feed  her  with  the  bread  of  science,  we  could  not 
expect  that  woman  should  be  less  free  from  attacks  of 
doubt  than  man.  Henceforth  in  the  moral  order 
risks  and  perils  are  common  to  both;  that  is  to  say, 
both  man  and  woman  have  a  common  responsibility 
from  which  no  artifice  or  fiction  can  release  them. 
Since  the  woman  brings  to  the  common  treasure 
her  dowry  of  intuition  and  the  delicacy  of  her  sex, 
and  since  in  return  she  is  introduced  by  her  education 
into  the  realm  of  reason  and  justice,  we  cannot  doubt 
that  this  common  responsibility  will  contribute  day 
by  day  to  establish  the  moral  unity  of  the  family 
and  the  peace  of  the  home.  She  will  thus  know  how 
to  preserve  the  obscure  virtues  that  our  civilization, 
consecrated  to  unremitting  activity  and  violent  com- 
petition, might  be  inclined  to  forget,  to  the  great 
detriment  of  nobility  of  soul,  humility,  sympathy, 
contentment  with  little,  patience,  resignation,  and 
that  acquaintance  with  the  things  of  eternity  outside 
of  which  the  things  of  this  life  and  life  itself  lose  their 
value.  Therefore  may  the  principal  train  the  young 
teachers  of  the  people  to  consider  themselves  devoted 
to  a  divine  task,  in  which  they  are  working  in  the  direc- 
tion of  God  himself,  by  raising  from  the  depths  of 


86      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

unconsciousness  and  vulgar  instinct,  by  the  aid  of  the 
elements  of  knowledge,  the  woman  of  conscience  and 
of  reason,  capable  of  truth  and  justice  no  less  than  of 
love !  Thus  the  obscure  existence  of  the  school- 
mistress will  be  softened,  ennobled,  and  sanctified 
in  advance.  How  I  should  pity  her  if  she  did  not 
carry  away  from  the  normal  school  with  her  diploma 
a  little  of  this  spiritual  viaticum !  Without  knowing 
anything  about  it,  I  dare  affirm  that  among  the  intelli- 
gent and  devoted  women  who  preside  over  our  normal 
schools  there  are  very  few  who  feel  that  they  have 
done  their  duty  toward  their  pupils  unless,  before 
dismissing  them,  they  have  imparted  to  them  at  least 
a  spark  of  this  sacred  Bre. 


MADAME  KERGOMARD 

Madame  Pauline  Kergomard  (1838-  ),  general  inspector  of 
kindergartens,  has  worked  out  a  method  of  educating  very  young 
children,  similar  to  the  Froebelian  method  but  less  rigid  and  less 
dogmatic  in  form.  Her  services  to  the  schools  during  the  last 
thirty  years  have  gained  for  her  a  title  rarely  given  to  women,  that 
of  Officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  The  two  volumes  of  L'Sducation 
maternelle  a  VScole  are  fiill  of  details,  illustrations,  and  valuable 
advice  for  kindergarten  teachers. 

WHAT  IS  AN  INFANT  SCHOOL  .?i 

"Infant  schools,"  says  the  regulation  of  August  2, 
1882,  **are  educational  establishments,  where  children 
of  both  sexes  receive  the  care  that  their  physical,  in- 
tellectual, and  moral  development  demands,"  —  as 
they  would  receive  it,  we  may  add,  from  an  intelligent 
and  tender  mother. 

The  infant  school  is  an  enlarged  family ;  the  principal 
is  the  mother  of  a  large  number  of  children.  What  do 
children  of  from  two  to  four  do  in  their  families? 
They  rival  the  birds  in  incessant  activity  and  unin- 
terrupted chattering.  They  do  not  do  anything 
definite,  much  less  do  they  have  "lessons,"  but  they 
do  what  they  have  need  to  do,  since  ordinarily  they 
develop  physically,  intellectually,  and  morally  with- 
out effort,  at  least  without  apparent  effort,  and  with- 
out interference  from  the  mother.  They  move  about 
as  much  as  is  necessary ;  they  work  as  if  they  were 
paid  by  the  day,  trying  and  expending  their  strength. 
Unconsciously  they  learn  the  names  and  uses  of  the 
objects  around  them.  Their  vocabulary,  at  first 
restricted  to  the  simple  "papa"  and  "mamma,"  is 

1  Une  icole  matemeUe.  From  L'Sducation  maternelle  dans  VScole, 
Hachette,  4th  edition,  1908,  pages  12  et  seq. 

87 


88      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

enriched  day  by  day.  Happy  in  their  daily  conquest 
they  chat  with  their  mother,  their  father,  with  animals, 
with  themselves,  about  what  they  see,  about  what 
they  do,  about  what  angers  or  pleases  them.  Un- 
consciously, too,  they  learn  to  hve  in  society.  Then 
when  they  are  tired  they  are  quiet  of  their  own  accord. 
WTiat  is  easier  or  more  interesting  than  to  guide  them 
in  the  way  they  have  started  ? 

I  have  never  seen  a  healthy  child  idle.  When  kept 
still,  he  needs  material  for  his  activity.  In  a  bare 
room  with  no  object  within  reach,  the  child  would  be- 
come sad;  yet  this  is  abnormal.  But  he  is  quite 
indifferent  as  to  the  material  placed  at  his  disposal. 
Mud,  sand,  rags,  paper,  chips  of  wood,  a  green  leaf 
or  a  dry  leaf,  everything  suits  him  provided  he  can 
make  something  out  of  it  himself  and  provided  he  can 
give  this  something  the  imprint  of  his  little  personality. 
A  luxurious  toy  that  is  unchangeable  in  shape  does 
not  please  him  for  more  than  an  instant,  while  sand, 
pebbles,  or  a  string  will  interest  him  every  day. 

THE  NEW  PROGRAM  FOR  INFANT  SCHOOLS  ^ 

A  NEW  program  has  been  worked  out  for  infant  schools. 
It  begins  thus : 

The  infant  school  is  not  a  school.  It  should,  as  far  as  possible, 
imitate  the  procedure  of  an  intelligent  and  devoted  mother.  The 
method  should  be  essentially  famihar,  always  progressive,  always 
subject  to  completion  and  revision. 

So  many  ideas,  so  many  pearls,  for  who  knows  how 
to  appreciate  this  new  foundation  of  the  infant  school ! 
In  the  last  analysis,  the  infant  school  is  to  draw  in- 

*  USducaiian  matemelle  dans  rScole,  pages  96  et  seq. 


MADAME  KERGOMARD  89 

spiration  from  the  only  model  that  can  be  of  use  to  it. 

Those  who  made  this  program  said,  "Since  the  infant 
school  must  take  the  place  of  the  family,  let  us  ask 
the  family  how  it  proceeds." 

This  brings  us  to  the  crux  of  the  whole  matter. 
Would  that  principals  would  draw  their  inspiration 
from  the  general  ideas  of  the  program  rather  than  from 
the  special  program  attached  to  the  circular!  Would 
that  they  would  take  its  spirit,  neglecting  the  letter 
of  the  law  as  much  as  possible !  To  be  frank,  on  the 
one  hand  the  spirit  of  the  special  program  wants  the 
infant  school  to  be  an  enlarged  family;  on  the  other 
its  letter  makes  the  infant  school  a  scientific  school  which 
can  be  excellent  or  deplorable  according  to  the  degree 
of  culture,  tact,  and  pedagogical  sense  of  the  principal. 

Let  us  glance  at  a  family  in  normal  circumstances, 
that  is  to  say,  a  family  whose  head  —  we  may  call 
him  "minister  of  foreign  affairs"  —  is  occupied  out- 
side the  home  all  day  long,  while  the  mother,  "minister 
of  the  interior,"  takes  charge  of  the  management  of 
the  household  and  the  children's  education. 

The  child  moves  about  and  busies  himself.  He 
busies  himself  with  playing.  Playing  is  the  child's 
work.  All  educators  worthy  of  the  name  have  main- 
tained this.     It  is  Froebel's  great  claim  to  renown. 

To  keep  busy,  the  child  must  have  material  objects 
at  his  disposal.  The  child  who  can  barely  walk  pushes 
a  chair  before  him  and  supports  himself  by  it.  His 
elder  brother  makes  an  improvised  horse  out  of  his 
chair.  Then  there  are  the  toys,  the  real  toys,  from 
the  jingling  rattle  of  the  baby  in  arms  up  to  the  game 
of  dominoes  with  which  the  dean  of  five  years  learns 


90      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

to  count  up  to  twelve.  Not  only  are  there  house  toys 
but  there  are  garden  toys.  Toys  and  housekeeping 
utensils  make  up  the  mother-school  material.  They 
should  also  form  that  of  the  httle  ones  in  the  infant 
school.  This  is  really  educative  material,  since  each 
of  the  objects  which  composes  it  contributes  to  the 
physical  and  intellectual  development  of  the  child 
who  has  it  within  reach.  The  little  one  who  leans 
on  his  chair  understands  that  without  it  he  would  fall 
to  the  floor;  the  one  who  makes  a  horse  out  of  his 
has  first  used  his  faculty  of  comparison  and  then  his 
faculty  of  imitation.  The  four  legs  of  the  chair  re- 
mind him  of  the  four  legs  of  the  horse,  and  if  he  straddles 
it  instead  of  sitting  down,  it  is  in  order  to  be  like  the 
man  on  horseback  whom  he  has  noticed  on  the  street 
or  on  the  road.  He  talks  to  his  horse  as  the  little 
girl  talks  to  the  rag  that  serves  her  for  a  doll,  while 
the  mother  joins  in  this  conversation. 

In  the  garden,  with  marbles,  skittles,  balloons,  and 
sand,  how  many  faculties  are  brought  into  play ! 
What  a  splendidly  sound  and  profitable  lesson  in  a 
timely  word !  We  itahcize  timely  because  the  lesson 
carries  only  when  it  enters  into  the  thought  of  the 
little  child,  when  it  comes  at  the  right  moment,  when 
it  is  opportune.  To  call  the  child's  attention  to  a  tree, 
when  he  is  playing  horse,  is  wasted  effort.  You  are 
talking  leaves  and  branches,  while  he '  answers  legs 
and  tail.  Teaching,  to  be  fruitful,  should  not  carry 
the  child  into  a  region  of  ideas  that  is  foreign  to  him ; 
it  should  not  cause  him  any  intellectual  fatigue.  >  Play, 
supervised  play,  constitutes  all  the  work  a  child  in  the 
second  division  of  the  infant  school  needs. 


ERNEST  LAVISSE 

Ernest  Lavisse  (1842-  ),  professor  and  historian.  He  is 
professor  of  history  at  the  Sorbonne,  director  of  the  Higher  Normal 
School,  a  member  of  the  French  Academy,  grand  officer  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  and  the  author  of  important  works  on  the  history 
of  France  and  the  history  of  Prussia.  M.  Lavisse  has  exerted  an 
unprecedented  moral  influence  over  the  youth  of  our  schools.  His 
pedagogical  work  is  not  confined  to^  the  three  volumes  :  Qiiestions 
d'enseignement  national,  1885;  Etudes  et  StudiantSy  1889;  A 
propos  nos  Scales y  1894,  but  has  taken  the  form  of  speeches  and 
numerous  articles  which  have  attracted  widespread  attention, 
especially  those  published  under  the  title  Lettres  d  tous  les  Frangaisy 
during  the  recent  war. 


-"       THE  FATHERLAND! 

Dear  children,  I  have  acquired  the  habit  of  talking 
to  you  about  serious  things.  It  is  of  something  serious 
that  I  shall  speak  to  you  again  today,  since  the  sub- 
ject of  my  speech  is  the  fatherland. 

The  fatherland  is  a  territory  inhabited  by  men  who 
obey  the  same  laws.  To  create  this  territory  and  es- 
tablish this  community  a  great  effort  was  necessary. 
Beloved  inhabitants  of  a  canton  of  the  green-carpeted 
and  forested  Thierache,  you  who  have  keen  and  prac- 
tical minds,  quarrelsome  tempers,  and  who  preserve  in 
your  speech  words  and  phrases  of  the  Picard  tongue, 
you  scarcely  resemble  the  Bretons  who  from  their 
rocks  look  dreamily  out  at  the  Atlantic  and  who  speak 
the  ancient  language  of  the  Celts.  Nor  do  you  re- 
semble the  Provengals  who  shout  in  Romanic  on  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  There  was  a  time  when 
Picardy  .was  more;  foreign  to  Brittany  and  Provence 

*  Address  delivered  at  the  prize  distribution  of  the  public  schools  at 
Nouvion-en-Thierache  (Aisne),  August,  1905. 

91 


92      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

than  are  America  and  the  Indies  today.  To  create 
our  nation,  nature,  from  whom  we  had  previously 
claimed  our  share  of  land  and  sky,  had  to  contribute 
for  several  centuries;  then  came  politics,  iron,  and 
fire,  and  finally  mind  and  heart,  each  with  its  con- 
tribution. 


You  have  learned  in  history  how  our  kings  created 
the  kingdom  of  France.  They  acquired  the  different 
provinces  one  after  the  other.  The  first  step  was  for 
Picards,  Bretons,  Gascons,  and  Provengals  to  unite  under 
the  same  master.  Our  fathers  all  became  Frenchmen, 
because  they  were  all  subjects  of  the  king  of  France, 
and  the  first  national  bond  was  common  obedience. 
In  the  actions  of  the  king  a  whole  people  were  interested. 
Our  fathers  contributed  of  their  money  and  their  blood 
to  the  enterprises  of  war.  A  victory  for  the  king  or  a 
defeat  for  the  king  gladdened  or  grieved  the  whole 
kingdom.  There  grew  up  a  habit  of  feehng  the 
same  emotions  simultaneously.  France  possessed  a 
national  consciousness. 

At  the  same  time  the  community  took  a  great  step 
forward  intellectually.  The  French  nation  created 
the  French  language.  If  today  we  speak  a  language 
which  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world,  it  is 
because  our  fathers  took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  make 
it  beautiful,  and  their  effort  lasted  for  centuries.  In 
our  language,  our  fathers  expressed  their  feelings  and 
their  ideas.  The  Hterature  of  a  people  is  like  a  general 
"confession"  of  that  people;  in  its  literature  a  people 
tells  all  its  thoughts  about  nature  and  man.  So  French 
literature  has  expressed  the  spirit  and   the  peculiar 


ERNEST  LAVISSE  93 

character  of  France;     it  has  created  a  moral   com- 
munity within  the  pohtical  community. 

For  a  long  time,  for  a  very  long  time,  the  French 
spirit  was  in  accord  with  the  king.  It  was  the  belief 
of  Frenchmen  that  the  king  was  God's  lieutenant  on 
this  earth,  that  it  was  necessary  to  love  and  serve 
him  as  they  loved  and  served  God.  Fellow  repub- 
licans, you  find  it  hard  to  understand  this  sentiment. 
As  you  see,  each  period  has  characteristics  of  its  own 
which  the  following  period  no  longer  understands. 
And  yet  these  things  were  once  legitimate.  It  is 
foolish  not^  to  want  to  acknowledge  that  they  were 
formerly  vital  and  very  vital,  just  as  it  is  foolish  to 
wish  to  revive  them,  for  they  are  dead,  dead  indeed. 


There  came  a  day  when  the  king  and  France  had  a 
falling  out.  The  king  wanted  the  quarrel ;  he  wanted 
it  stubbornly,  for  the  patience  of  our  fathers  was  ad- 
mirable; they  were  patient,  so  patient.  The  king- 
dom suffered  abuses  of  all  sorts :  inequality,  injustice, 
despotism.  Genius  protested  louder ;  it  produced  the 
French  ideal  of  liberty,  of  justice,  of  humanity.  And 
this  was  the  French  Revolution. 

With  the  king  fell  the  system  of  castes  and  privileges 
which  created  private  rights  in  the  nation.  All  the 
French  shared  equally  in  the  fatherland,  which  was 
declared  one  and  indivisible.  From  that  moment 
France  loved  herself  directly ;  but  what  is  it  that  she 
loved  above  all  else?  Her  great  ideal  of  justice, 
liberty,  and  humanity.  That  is  why  she  had  the  right 
to  love  herself  passionately  as  she  did.     Our  revo- 


94       FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

lutionary  patriotism  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
sentiments  that  history  had  known. 

And  today,  more  than  a  century  away  from  the 
Revolution,  after  so  many  vicissitudes,  after  those 
signal  honors,  after  those  great  reverses,  after  those 
offensive  returns  of  the  past  at  the  time  of  the  restora- 
tions, today,  in  the  world  so  prodigiously  transformed, 
by  what  mark  does  France  recognize  herself,  by  what 
mark  do  foreigners  recognize  her  ?  By  her  great  ideal 
of  justice,  of  liberty,  of  humanity. 


My  children,  our  fatherland  is  then  not  merely  a 
territory;  it  is  a  human  structure,  begun  centuries 
ago,  which  we  are  continuing,  which  you  will  continue. 
The  long  struggle  of  our  fathers,  the  memory  of  their 
actions  and  their  thoughts,  the  monuments  of  their 
genius,  our  language,  our  type  of  mind,  our  way  of 
imderstanding  life,  all  that  —  with  the  rich  beauty 
of  our  land,  with  the  mildness  of  our  sky,  with  the 
poetic  variety  of  our  landscape,  our  mists  in  the  north 
and  our  southern  sunlight,  our  superb  mountains  and 
our  beautiful  plains,  our  green  seas,  and  our  blue 
ocean  —  that  is  your  rich  inheritance.  It  is  our 
country,  the  daughter  of  our  spirit. 


But  your  country  is  not  the  only  country  in  the 
world.  Others  surround  you,  which  grew  up  dif- 
ferently from  ours,  more  slowly,  like  Germany  or  Italy, 
or  more  quickly,  like  England.  They  created  their 
laws,  their  language,  their  literature.  Like  France 
each  one  of  them  has  expressed  its  sentiments  and 
ideas  about  nature  and  about  humanity.     Each  one 


ERNEST  LAVISSE  95 

of  them  has  its  genius,  different  from  ours.  Each  one 
of  them  is  loved  by  its  children  as  France  is  loved  by 
hers. 

What  should  be  the  feeling  and  the  conduct  of  these 
fatherlands  toward  one  another.^  That  is  a  question 
which  at  the  present  moment  occupies,  inflames,  and 
divides  the  minds  of  men. 

For  centuries  the  feeling  was  hate,  and  the  conduct 
was  war.  It  seemed  as  though  one  could  not  love 
one's  country  without  detesting  the  others.  It  is  true, 
war  was  inevitable  at  the  time  when  the  states  that 
were  forming  quarreled  over  their  frontiers.  War  is 
often  a  phenomenon  of  growth  and  a  determinant  of 
boundaries.  For  reasons  of  state  the  natural  instinct 
of  violence  which  is  in  us  was  thus  fostered,  for  hu- 
manity is  not  natural  to  men.  War  became  the  great 
function  of  the  State;  kings  were  born  war  chiefs; 
men  were  born  their  lieutenants ;  other  men  in  great 
numbers  chose  war  as  a  trade  and  a  means  of  liveli- 
hood. Standing  armies  were  created,  and  rulers  made 
war  to  keep  these  armies  busy.  Years  of  peace  seemed 
empty  years.  There  were  not  many  of  them,  for  that 
matter.  Out  of  the  sixty-two  years  that  Louis  XIV 
reigned,  he  was  at  war  during  almost  fifty  years. 
Pride,  pleasure,  habit,  together  with  poHtical  interest, 
were  among  the  incentives  to  the  belligerents  of  long 
ago.  It  was  a  terrible  period  in  the  history  of  hu- 
manity ;    today  it  seems  barbarous  to  us. 

Why?  Other  customs  have  become  established. 
Our  great  eighteenth  century  preached  the  idea  of 
humanity  and  taught  the  value  of  the  human  being. 
The  military  epoch  of  the  Revolution  and  the  Empire 


96      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

have  left  the  need  and  the  love  of  peace  iu  Europe. 
In  all  countries  industry  has  assumed  an  extraordinary 
intensity,  and  industry  desires  peace.  Commerce 
and  rapidity  of  communication  have  brought  peoples 
closer  together.  And  again  in  almost  all  countries, 
the  mihtary  trade  has  been  replaced  by  the  military 
duty,  and  the  professional  army  has  given  place  to  the 
national  army.  And  yet  again,  governments  must 
deal  with  public  opinion  today;  almost  all  of  them 
must  reckon  with  a  national  assembly.  Here  we  have 
a  great  innovation.  War  is  no  longer  determined 
exclusively  by  those  who  cause  others  to  be  killed; 
those  who  are  to  be  killed  themselves  have  a  voice 
in  the  decision.  That  changes  everything.  Wars 
are  becoming  more  and  more  rare.  The  very  govern- 
ments preach  peace,  love  it,  or  at  least  pretend  to. 
They  conclude  arbitration  treaties,  and  there  has  been 
drawn  up  a  rough  draft  of  an  international  court  of 
justice.     Humanity  seems  to  be  organizing  for  peace. 


My  children,  I  am  one  of  those  who  in  all  sincerity 
applaud  these  efforts.  I  do  not  believe  them  chimerical 
by  any  means.  It  is  certain  that  the  number  of  those 
who  love  war  is  decreasing.  War  is  on  the  decline; 
to  work  against  it  is  to  act  in  the  spirit  of  the  future. 
But  I  also  know  that  I  shall  not  see  humanity  recon- 
ciled, and  that  no  more  will  you.  Centuries  were 
necessary  to  create  a  kingdom  of  France  out  of  the 
provinces.  Who  can  say  how  many  centuries  will  be 
needed  to  create  out  of  regions  so  widely  different  that 
nation  which  will  be  called  humanity?  Even  among 
the  peoples  who  style  themselves  the  most  civilized. 


ERNEST  LAVISSE  97 

peace  is  not  assured.  A  few  weeks  ago  the  only  thing 
one  heard  was  talk  of  war  among  the  nations  of  Europe. 
You  see  even  in  Europe  there  are  sovereigns  still — ■ 
not  many  and  not  for  always,  it  is  true,  but  we  have 
to  take  our  age  as  it  is  —  sovereigns  who  have  the 
power  to  set  war  loose  and  to  point  with  their  finger 
in  the  direction  it  must  go  and  at  the  place  it  must 
strike.  But  war  can  be  born  otherwise  than  of  the 
whim  of  a  sovereign. 

Let  us  not  be  deluded  by  certain  remarks  which 
everybody  repeats.  As  for  me,  I  spoke  a  few  moments 
ago  of  the  ease  of  communication  which  brings  peoples 
closer  together.  Orators  celebrate  the  beauty  of  this 
universal  movement  from  place  to  place.  They  show 
tufts  of  smoke  floating  over  the  waters  and  over  the 
land;  but  under  these  tufts  glide  armored  cruisers 
and  torpedo  boats.  I  read  on  railroad  cars  their 
capacity :  36  men ;  8  horses.  The  proudest  of  the 
sovereigns  who  yet  reigns  by  the  grace  of  God  has 
among  his  various  responsibilities  that  of  making  the 
most  of  the  commerce  of  his  subjects.  His  imperial 
helmet  protects  their  merchandise.  Thus  it  is  not  so 
true  that  commerce  is  peaceful.  To  the  peace  which 
procures  good  business,  it  can  very  well  prefer  war 
some  day,  if  it  hopes  by  this  means  to  get  better 
business. 

After  all,  my  children,  old  indeed  is  the  habit  of  war, 
and  very  old  the  habit  of  national  egoism.  Instincts 
remain  dormant  which  can  awaken  with  a  start.  No, 
I  shall  not  see  humanity  reconciled ;  neither  will  you. 
You  will  continue  to  live,  as  we  are  living,  under  the 
regime  of  different  fatherlands. 


98      FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

So  the  question  comes  back:  "What  should  be  the 
sentiment  and  the  conduct  of  countries  toward  one 
another?"  And  to  this  question  another  is  bound: 
"What  should  be  our  sentiment  and  our  conduct 
toward  our  country  ?  " 

I  have  already  practically  answered. 

Countries  should  consider  themselves  as  works  of 
man.  Humanity  permeates  each  one  of  them  with 
her  natural  diversity,  for  nature  wishes  humanity  to 
be  diverse.  Nature  will  never  permit  all  the  sons  of 
men  to  resemble  each  other.  It  is  fortunate  that  this 
is  so,  for  this  resemblance  would  be  unbearable  ugli- 
ness. Nature  is  harmonious,  and  humanity  is  also 
harmonious.  Each  of  the  fatherlands  which  humanity 
has  created  in  lands  and  under  skies  that  are  different, 
in  diverse  circumstances,  has  her  own  aptitudes,  her 
own  character,  her  own  genius,  and  each  one  con- 
tributes to  the  beauty  of  the  whole.  To  serve  one's 
country  is  to  serve  humanity  at  the  post  where  the 
fortune  of  our  birth  has  placed  us. 

If  it  is  thus  that  you  understand  the  fatherland,  my 
children,  you  will  respect  the  fatherlands  of  others. 
You  will  not  want  to  do  unto  them  what  you  would 
not  want  done  to  yourselves.  In  you  the  dying  spirit 
of  domination  will  breathe  its  last.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  hate  the  foreigner  and  to  wish  to  subjugate  him  in 
order  to  love  one's  fatherland. 

As  for  your  country,  you  will  love  it  differently  but 
quite  as  much  and  even  more  than  our  ancestors  loved 
it  in  their  time.  You  will  love  it  instinctively,  and 
you  will  love  it  deliberately  as  well. 

A  natural  instinct  binds  us  to  our  ancestors  with  a 


ERNEST  LAVISSE  99 

sort  of  sacredness,  without  subjecting  us  to  their  ideas 
and  customs,  without  condemning  us  to  the  servile 
obHgation  indefinitely  to  keep  repeating  their  exploits. 
It  gives  us  a  feeling  of  continuity,  and  accompanied 
with  the  charm  of  long  memories,  it  gives  us  that  force 
and  tranquillity  which  rises  from  the  deeply  buried 
root  with  the  ever  flowing  sap. 

But  it  is  diflBcult  for  us  Frenchmen  to  follow  pure 
instinct.  We  are  like  the  children  who  want  to  know 
what  there  is  in  the  drum  that  makes  the  big  noise. 
That  is  why  we  have  burst  so  many  drums,  behind 
which  other  peoples  who  have  kept  them  continue  to 
march  with  cadenced  step. 


Well,  if  you  want  to  know  the  reason,  so  do  I. 

Suppose,  then,  you  say  to  me:  "It  is  an  accident 
that  brought  me  into  the  world  in  France.  I  could 
just  as  well  have  been  born  in  England,  in  Germany, 
or  in  Russia.  I  will  not  admit  that  all  my  life  should 
be  bound  by  the  act  of  a  recorder  who  on  the  day  of  my 
birth  wrote  in  a  register  my  name,  which  I  did  not 
know  and  about  which  I  did  not  care  in  the  least. 

"First  of  all,  I  am  born  a  man.  I  wish  to  belong 
only  to  humanity.     It  is  humanity  that  I  wish  to 


serve." 


I  will  answer:  "Humanity,  that  does  not  exist  as 
yet ;  it  is  a  great  and  beautiful  idea ;  it  is  not  a  fact. 
You  must  have  a  fixed  place  in  which  to  act,  and  I 
defy  you  to  serve  humanity  otherwise  than  through 
the  medium  of  a  fatherland.  Seek  out,  then,  among 
the  different  fatherlands  the  one  that  makes  humanity 
suffer  least." 


100    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

What  accusation  of  inhumanity  rises  against  France  ? 
By  whom  is  she  accursed?  Have  we  an  Ireland,  a 
Schleswig,  a  Finland,  a  Poland?  Do  we  retain  by 
force  in  our  community  men  who  renounce  their  souls  ? 
Rather  is  it  not  we  who  one  day  dreamed  of  liberating 
peoples,  and  has  it  not  been  the  fortune  of  the  ideas 
of  the  Revolution  to  be  implanted,  by  the  very  acts 
of  violence  of  the  Imperial  period,  in  the  most  impene- 
trable jungles  of  past  despotisms?  Is  the  great  and 
proud  Germany  of  today  very  sure  that  if  she  had  not 
been  enlightened,  stimulated,  shaken,  mistreated  by 
us,  if  we  had  not  had  1789  and  1848,  she  would  not 
have  continued  to  bow  before  a  swarm  of  princelets 
with  all  the  seriousness  that  she  gives  to  her  respect, 
while  she  was  working  at  the  problems  of  philosophy? 

What  is  more,  history  teaches  that  for  the  last  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  a  people  has  mingled  its  blood 
with  that  of  the  peoples  who  were  struggling  for  exist- 
ence. This  is  the  nation  which  engaged  in  the  American 
war  for  the  independence  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
Morean  expedition  for  the  independence  of  Greece,  in 
the  siege  of  Antwerp  for  the  independence  of  Belgium, 
in  the  Lombard  war  for  the  independence  of  Italy. 
That  people  is  om-selves. 

On  the  other  hand,  here  at  home  are  we  not  work- 
ing to  free  humanity  from  the  complicated  discipline 
she  imposed  upon  herself  when  she  was  younger? 
Divine  right  is  no  more ;  nor  monarchy,  nor  caste,  nor 
hereditary  hierarchy.  There  is  no  longer  a  Church 
endowed  with  coercive  power.  No  obstacle  stands 
in  the  way  of  our  determination  to  establish  justice. 

Finally,  through  her  humanity  France  has  suflFered 


EBNEST  LAVISSE  :^0t 

much  and  is  still  suffering.  It  would  have  been  better 
for  her  had  the  neighboring  nations  remained  humble 
and  divided  against  themselves.  She  would  be  more 
tranquil  if  she  had  retained  all  the  different  kinds  of 
obedience,  for  obedience  is  a  pillow  conducive  to  sound 
sleep.  If,  then,  it  be  true  that  moved  by  an  irre- 
sistible inner  force  she  manages  the  affairs  of  others 
better  than  her  own,  if  patriots  reproach  her  for  it, 
should  she  not  have  the  approbation  of  all  who  refuse 
to  set  a  boundary  around  their  souls,  which  are  en- 
amoured of  justice  and  humanity  ? 

Friends,  feel  free  to  take  advantage  of  the  right  to 
love,  the  right  to  prefer  France,  since  even  reason 
proves  that  your  instinct  which  leads  you  to  love  her 
and  prefer  her  does  not  lead  you  astray,  for  to  serve 
her  is  the  most  efficient  means  of  serving  humanity. 


To  bring  this  long  and  serious  discourse  to  an  end, 
let  us  join  in  a  common  wish  —  I  was  going  to  say, 
let  us  pray  together : 

May  our  France  remain  strong  among  nations. 

May  she  be  strong  through  her  justice. 

May  her  justice  enable  her  to  destroy  within  her 
all  the  wrongs  which  are  not  inevitable,  and  may  she 
alleviate  the  others.  May  her  democratic  laws  finally 
elevate  all  Frenchmen  to  the  dignity  of  being  men,  to 
which  so  great  a  number  among  us  have  not  yet 
arrived. 

May  she  be  strong  in  liberty. 

May  the  Republic,  inflexible,  persevere  in  taking 
all  authority  from  the  powers  of  the  past,  but  may 
no  conscience  be  wounded  in  religious  faith,  for  ex- 


tm    FRENGH  Em/CATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

perience  has  proved  that  such  wounds  cause  cruel 
sufiPering. 

As  the  result  of  justice  and  liberty,  may  our  country 
be  the  heritage  of  all,  and  may  no  Frenchman  feel 
oppressed  or  crushed  by  her. 

May  the  Republic  be  strong  through  her  arms ;  for 
'^  if  she  let  her  annor  fall,  she  would  not  be  justified  in 
preaching  peace,  for  which  she  would  have  too  manifest 
a  need. 

In  awaiting  the  day,  whose  date  we  cannot  even 
imagine,  when  the  different  peoples  will  furl  their 
standards,  and  after  saluting  these  venerated  symbols 
for  the  last  time,  will  bum  them  on  a  great  bonfire, 
may  the  flag  of  France  float  high  in  the  heavens ;  for 
it  bears  no  monogram  nor  heraldic  beast;  it  belongs 
to  neither  man  nor  dynasty ;  it  belongs  to  a  free  people 
that  respects  the  Hberty  of  others  and  desires  that  this 
liberty  be  preserved.  Yet  if  our  flag  gave  way,  one 
would  see  the  shadow  of  the  double-headed  eagles 
"^lengthen  out  over  the  earth. 

May  our  frontier  on  the  east  not  be  provocative 
of  strife,  but  let  it  stand  firm.  May  it  not  lack  a  man 
N  or  a  cartridge,  so  that  no  one  either  on  this  side  of  the 
^  frontier  or  the  other  can  fear  or  believe  that  a  wish 
will  suffice  to  cross  it;  so  that  no  one  dare  propose 
to  take  us  in  tow,  we  whose  destiny  it  is  to  be  a  glorious 
and  venturesome  vanguard. 

May  the  French  people  ever  remain  a  vanguard,  proud 
of  the  honor,  though  conscious  of  the  peril ;  and  indis- 
solubly  united  through  this  double  sentiment,  let  them 
lead  the  difficult  march  toward  that  far-away  peace 
which  the  international  wisdom  of  the  future  will  give  us. 


ERNEST  LAVISSE  108 

AN  OPEN  LETTER  TO  THE  TEACHERS  OF 
FRANCE  ON  CIVIC  EDUCATION  ^ 

Before  taking  up  my  subject,  I  am  going  to  relate 
three  anecdotes  that  are  absolutely  authentic  and  very 
simple,  and  from  them  I  shall  draw  a  conclusion. 

A  poor  woman  came  to  my  home  in  the  country 
one  day  and  asked  to  speak  to  me.  As  she  explained 
her  trouble,  she  began  to  sob,  and  with  great  diflSculty 
she  told  me  through  her  tears  what  had  happened  to 
her  son.  In  sending  New  Year's  greeting  to  one  of  his 
sisters,  the  boy  had  written  on  the  card  four  more 
words  than  the  five-centime  postage  allowed.  The 
card  had  been  held  at  the  other  end;  a  complaint 
had  been  drawn  up;  the  sister  had  informed  her 
brother;  and  the  mother  had  hurried  to  me.  She 
could  not  have  been  more  agitated  if  her  son  had 
committed  a  great  crime,  and  she  kept  repeating: 
"We  are  poor  people;  we  have  not  even  good  health ; 
we  shall  not  be  able  to  live.  Are  they  going  to  punish- 
my  boy?"  I  reassured  her  and  promised  to  write  to 
the  proper  authorities.  I  did  so.  My  request  was 
granted,  and  the  poor  people  were  let  off  cheaply,  I 
should  say,  if  there  were  such  a  thing  as  cheapness  for 
the  very  poor. 


One  of  my  nearest  relatives  had  dealing  with  the 
courts,  not  for  himself,  but  in  behalf  of  a  friend  who 
had  been  unjustly  accused  of  perjury.  He  decided 
to  go  to  see  the  judges  at  Vervins.  As  my  home  was 
on  his  way,  he  stopped,  told  me  the  story,  and  at  the 
^  Manud  ghUral  de  Vinatruction  primaire,  February  19,  1898. 


104    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

last  moment  as  I  was  seeing  him  to  his  cart  he  remarked : 
"I  have  two  miserable  hares  in  my  box.  They  are 
for  the  presiding  judge."  I  begged  him  to  come  back 
into  the  house,  and  I  had  the  utmost  difficulty  in  mak- 
ing him  see  that  his  present  would  be  unwelcome.  I 
added  that  he  would  better  leave  the  hares  with  me, 
and  we  would  eat  them  together  at  the  earliest  op- 
portunity. 


The  mayor  of  an  important  rural  town  (I  am  a  friend 
of  his,  and  I  have  the  story  direct  from  him)  heard  a 
man  muttering  behind  him  on  the  street.  Turning 
around,  he  recognized  a  drunkard  of  his  acquaintance 
and  passed  on,  but  the  man  continued  to  mutter.  As 
his  words  became  more  distinct,  the  mayor  heard  him 
say:  "I've  already  given  twenty  francs,  and  I've  got 
to  cart  wood  besides."  At  this  my  friend  turned 
around  and  asked  the  man  to  explain  himself.  The 
man  related  that  a  month  before  he  had  given  twenty 
francs  to  the  country  policeman  because  of  some  mis- 
chief his  youngster  had  committed,  and  that  now  the 
policeman  wanted  to  make  him  haul  a  load  of  wood. 
It  was  impossible  to  obtain  a  clearer  explanation.  Up- 
on inquiry,  the  mayor  discovered  that  a  band  of  little 
boys  had  broken  into  a  locksmith's  and  had  taken 
some  files.  The  locksmith  had  complained  to  the 
policeman,  who  had  constituted  himself  a  sovereign 
magistrate.  Among  the  youngsters  was  the  son  of 
the  drunkard,  who  happened  to  be  in  comfortable 
circumstances.  The  constable  represented  to  him  the 
enormity  of  the  crime,  spoke  of  gendarmes  and  of  the 
police  court,  and  finally  offered  to  compromise  the 


EBNEST  LAVISSE  105 

affair  for  twenty  francs.  The  twenty  francs  were  paid, 
and  I  suppose  they  were  divided  between  the  lock- 
smith and  the  poHceman.  A  month  went  by;  the 
locksmith  ordered  his  supply  of  wood,  and  it  came 
time  to  haul  it  in.  The  boy's  father  had  a  horse  and 
cart.  Why  should  not  he  cart  it  gratis  pro  Deo?  A 
hint  was  given  to  the  policeman,  and  the  latter  ordered 
it  done.  The  order  would  have  been  obeyed  if  the 
mayor  had  not  intervened. 


There  are  my  three  anecdotes,  and  here  are  the 
conclusions  I  draw  from  them.  The  poor  weeping 
woman,  the  man  with  the  hares,  and  the  man  fleeced 
by  the  country  policeman  are  indeed  the  descendants 
of  the  peasants  of  old,  and  they  have  retained  a  strik- 
ing resemblance  to  their  great  grandfathers. 

Is  not  the  poor  woman  the  great  granddaughter  of 
poor  creatures  pitilessly  crushed  under  the  weight  of 
the  State,  who  always  saw  some  "harm"  coming  to 
them  ? 

Is  not  the  man  with  the  hares  the  great  grandson 
of  the  defendants  of  yore  who  believed  that  those 
who  failed  to  bribe  the  judge  had  no  claim  to  justice  ? 

And  the  man  of  the  twenty  francs,  is  not  he  the  great 
grandson  of  the  serf  who  had  no  rights,  of  the  serf  who 
was  responsible  for  taxes  and  labor  at  his  master's 
behest  ? 

Now  I  could  relate  many  stories  like  those  I  have 
just  told. 

Look  around  you  carefully,  and  you  will  find  every- 
where survivals  of  ancient  serfdom ;  you  will  find  the 
century-old  fear  of  the  authorities.     Too  many  French- 


106    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

men  do  not  know  that  there  are  such  things  as  right 
and  justice,  or  at  least  conduct  themselves  as  if  there 
were  none.  They  believe  that  there  are  powers  whose 
"protection"  must  be  sought  because  they  distribute 
"favors."  As  for  the  rest,  what  they  desire  above  all 
else  is  not  to  have  relations  with  any  one,  to  live  tran- 
quilly and  as  far  as  possible  unnoticed,  to  burrow  at 
home. 

Oh !  assuredly  the  French  Revolution  did  not  waste 
all  its  effort.  It  produced  principles  that  will  endure 
and  will  always  endure,  principles  like  personal  freedom 
and  the  freedom  to  hold  property.  But  a  hundred 
years  have  not  sufficed  for  liberty  to  penetrate  the 
soul,  to  evolve  a  State  which  would  represent  a  per- 
fected French  Revolution.  Gentlemen,  help  us  to 
complete  the  French  Revolution.  You  can  do  so  by 
giving  especial  attention  to  moral  and  civic  instruction. 

Combined  with  history,  moral  and  civic  instruction 
would  be  of  great  benefit. 

I  should  like  to  have  history  taught  in  the  schools 
by  a  very  different  method  from  the  one  at  present 
forced  upon  us  by  the  programs  and  the  system  of 
examinations.  I  would  that  the  history  taught  the 
people  be  above  all  else  the  history  of  the  people 
through  the  centuries,  the  history  of  the  immense 
effort  toward  justice  and  liberty,  toward  right.  This 
teaching  would  not  require  more  time  than  that  of  to- 
day ;  it  would  require  less.  It  could  be  simple,  hvely, 
practical,  and  clear  as  the  day. 

Without  bias,  without  injustice,  without  hate  toward 
the  past,  this  teaching  would  veer  toward  the  present. 
It  would  show  how  much  time  and  effort  and  strife 


ERNEST  LAVISSE  107 

and  misery  have  been  necessary  to  raise  the  French 
subject  of  yesterday  to  the  dignity  of  the  French 
citizen  of  today.  It  would  show  that  this  dignity  is 
precious  and  that  it  must  be  guarded  jealously.  It 
would  be,  as  it  were,  a  preface  to  that  civic  instruction 
which  deals  with  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  French 
citizen  such  as  the  history  of  France  has  made  him. 

In  reality,  civic  instruction  consists  in  teaching 
rights  and  duties. 

In  this  connection  I  shall  criticize  frankly  the  banal 
motto:  "It  is  duties  that  must  be  taught;  as  for 
rights,  the  people  will  learn  them  rapidly  enough." 
I  maintain  on  the  contrary  that  rights  are  imperfectly 
known,  and  that  we  must  begin  by  making  them  known, 
for  from  the  knowledge  and  the  practice  of  rights  issue 
and  proceed  the  knowledge  and  the  practice  of  duties. 
The  Frenchman  who  would  realize  that  he  is  abso- 
lutely free  and  the  equal  of  any  other  citizen  in  the 
eyes  of  the  law,  that  his  vote  has  the  same  value  as 
any  other  vote,  and  that  he  possesses  a  share  in  the 
government  would  understand  that  these  rights  and 
honors  cannot  be  free,  that  he  must  merit  them  by 
acquitting  himself  of  his  duties  toward  the  State. 

How  is  a  man  who  believes  himself  a  "poor  creature 
of  the  earth,"  a  victim  of  oppression,  who  still  has  in 
his  veins  the  poison  of  serfdom,  to  understand  and 
accept  such  onerous  duties  as  the  duty  of  paying  the 
tax  in  money  and  the  tax  in  blood?  He  will  try  to 
escape  them  as  far  as  possible.  He  will  demand  of  his 
deputy  first  of  all  that  the  latter  become  his  protector, 
against  the  law  if  need  be,  and  that  the  deputy  like- 
wise take  an  interest  in  his  petty  affairs. 


108    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

I  know  that  it  is  difficult  for  you,  overworked  as 
you  are,  to  give  civic  instruction  as  it  should  be  given. 
I  know  that  your  pupils  are  very  young  when  they 
leave  school  and  that  many  will  doubtless  forget  the 
lessons  taught  there.  It  is  essential,  therefore,  that 
you  make  an  important  place  for  civic  teaching  in  the 
"instruction  after  school,"  which  thanks  to  you  is 
beginning  to  be  organized  throughout  France.  You 
must,  I  say,  provide  for  this,  for  it  is  my  profound 
conviction  that  the  only  means  of  saving  France  is 
to  give  our  young  people  definite  reasons  for  loving 
their  country  and  for  discharging  their  duties  toward 
their  country.  If  we  succeed  in  this  undertaking,  it 
will  not  only  be  our  salvation ;  it  will  mean  greatness 
and  glory,  the  greatest  glory  that  France  has  ever 
reached.  And  the  French  democracy  will  finally  be- 
come a  reahty ! 

You  may  say  :  "But  you  are  talking  only  of  politics. 
Do  you,  then,  want  to  introduce  poKtics  into  the 
schools?"     No  more  than  at  present. 

Although  civic  instruction  is  but  a  chapter  in  ele- 
mentary teaching,  many  grave  symptoms  warn  us  that 
it  is  necessary  to  look  after  this  particular  chapter. 

Things  are  not  going  well ;  we  must  think  seriously 
of  the  future.  Besides,  it  is  not  playing  politics;  it 
is  teaching  history  to  teach  our  beloved  Frenchmen 
that  they  are  noble  beings,  the  noblest  among  the 
children  of  men,  because  they  are  the  freest  and  the 
richest  in  rights.  Teaching  them  that  they  ought  to 
assume  their  share  of  the  burdens  as  well  as  of  the 
honors,  that  they  ought  to  obey  the  law  and  obey 
those  whose  function  it  is  to  enforce  the  law;     pre- 


ERNEST  LAVISSE  109 

paring  them  to  consent  to  this  obedience  and  to  love  it ; 
forming  souls  at  once  proud  and  disciplined  —  is  this 
playing  politics  ?     No,  it  is  simply  moral  training. 

The  great  citizen  and  historian  Michelet  thought 
constantly  of  France  at  the  very  hour  of  his  death,  as 
he  thought  of  her  all  his  life.  In  his  deHrium  he  uttered 
these  strange  words,  "Henry  V  should  have  been  fed 
on  the  hearts  of  lions."  The  one  whom  he  called 
Henry  V  was  the  Comte  de  Chambord,  heir  of  the  old 
French  dynasty. 

Did  Michelet  doubt  in  the  depths  of  his  soul  that 
our  country,  so  long  governed  by  kings,  was  capable 
of  living  as  a  free  and  democratic  republic  ?  Alas ! 
we  understand  only  too  well  why  this  doubt  should 
have  come  to  him.  This  doubt  is  one  of  the  torments 
of  all  who  think.  And  then,  in  the  confusion  of  the 
agony  that  was  beginning,  Michelet  dreamed  this 
dream :  France  returned  to  a  king,  but  to  a  king  firm 
and  proud,  to  a  king  who  fed  on  the  hearts  of  lions. 
Now  Henry  V  died  in  exile,  as  his  grandfather  Charles  X 
died,  as  died  his  cousin  Louis  Philippe,  as  died  the  last 
sovereign  that  France  has  had,  the  Emperor  Na- 
poleon ni.  It  seems  that  France  can  no  longer  en- 
dure a  monarchy.  If  she  cannot  live  as  a  republic, 
what  will  become  of  her  ?  That  is  a  terrible  question. 
She  must  live  as  a  republic.  But  to  this  end  our 
children  must  be  given  a  virile  education;  it  is  the 
children  of  the  people  who  must  be  fed  on  the  hearts 
of  lions. 


JEAN  JAURES 

Jean  Jaur^s  (1859-1914),  pupil  at  the  Higher  Normal  School, 
afterwards  a  professor  on  the  faculty  of  letters  at  Toulouse,  entered 
political  life  in  1885  as  deputy  from  the  Tarn.  He  quickly  proved 
himself  to  be  a  great  orator.  As  leader  of  the  Socialist  minority 
he  took  part  more  and  more  prominently  in  the  discussion  of  all 
great  questions  of  foreign  and  domestic  policy.  After  founding 
the  newspaper  L'HuTnanitSy  he  was  instrumental  in  bringing  about 
the  fusion  of  all  the  socialistic  groups  into  a  unified  socialist  party. 
In  the  celebrated  Dreyfus  Case  he  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  those 
who  defended  and  who  finally  brought  about  the  triumph  of  truth 
and  justice.  Just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  fought  against 
the  three  years'  military  service,  offering  as  a  substitute  a  system 
similar  to  that  of  the  Swiss  militia.  His  views  were  outlined  in 
UArmSe  nouveUe,  which  even  his  adversaries  acknowledge  to  be  a 
remarkable  work.  He  was  assassinated  the  day  before  the  declara- 
tion of  war.  Every  two  weeks  for  ten  years  he  wrote  an  article 
on  education  for  the  Revue  de  renseignement  primaire.  We  are 
giving  two  of  these  articles,  the  first  that  appeared  (1905)  and  one 
of  the  last  (1914). 

THE  SCHOOLMASTER  AND  SOCIAXISM  ^ 

The  schoolmasters,  in  their  remarkable  congresses, 
are  raising  themselves  more  and  more  above  purely 
technical  questions;  or,  rather,  they  are  determining 
the  technique  of  their  teaching  according  to  general 
ideas.  This  was  noticeable  in  their  recent  congress 
on  the  teaching  of  history.  How  could  they  really 
accompHsh  the  work  of  educators  {i.e.,  to  form  and 
prepare  men  and  citizens)  if  they  were  not  occupied 
with  the  conditions  in  which  humanity  finds  itself 
and  with  the  goal  toward  which  humanity  is  moving? 
The  educators  of  the  people  will  accomplish  a  task 
that  is   really   efficient  only   when   their  educational 

*  This  is  the  first  article  published  by  Jaur^  in  the  Revue  de  Venseigne- 
tneni  primaire,  October  1,  1905. 

110 


JEAN  JAURES  III 

policy  is  controlled  and  animated  by  a  political  social 
philosophy.  Whatever  we  may  say  of  socialism,  it 
is  a  great  idea  and  a  great  fact.  It  is  a  great  fact, 
for  it  groups  together  millions  of  workers  in  the  entire 
world,  whose  influence  on  government  and  society 
is  constantly  growing.  It  is  a  great  idea,  because  it 
proposes  to  the  intelligence  and  the  conscience  an 
organization  of  human  relations  which  would  eliminate 
misery,  ignorance,  and  dependence,  and  which,  to  use 
a  strong  expression  of  the  schoolmen,  would  cause 
humanity  to  pass  from  theory  into  absolute  action. 

There  is,  therefore,  neither  indiscretion  nor  im- 
propriety nor  the  abusive  meddling  of  a  politician  in 
insisting  that  the  teachers  study  socialism  with  ab- 
solute freedom  and  in  all  sincerity.  I  should  like  to 
tell  briefly  why  they  should  accept  it  and  how  they 
can  serve  it. 

How  can  they  avoid  accepting  socialism,  since  mani- 
festly it  is  winning  over  all  minds  and  consciences 
that  caste  or  class  interest  does  not  deceive?  There 
is  not  a  single  man  today  who  dares  affirm  that  the 
wage  system  is  final.  Not  only  does  this  system  foster 
repeated  crises  of  misery  and  uncertainty,  but  it  lowers 
the  moral  value  of  men.  It  is  at  once  a  principle  of 
hate  and  a  principle  of  passivity.  By  dividing  society 
into  two  classes,  the  custodians  of  capital  and  the  great 
forces  of  production  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other 
those  who  have  no  other  fortune  than  their  hands,  it 
forces  men  to  an  unremitting  struggle  one  against  the 
other.  At  present  every  claim  is  a  conflict,  an  oc- 
casion for  suffering  and  hatred.  The  strike,  a  nec- 
essary means  of  defense  for  wage  earners,  is  a  hideous 


112    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

weapon  which  accuses  our  entire  society  of  barbarism. 
That  laborers  in  order  to  defend  their  wages  should  be 
obliged  to  suspend  work,  to  destroy  wealth  or  to  arrest 
its  production,  to  inflict  on  themselves,  on  their  wives, 
and  on  their  children  long  privations  which  embitter 
and  exasperate  them  —  there  can  be  no  more  terrible 
condemnation  of  the  capitahstic  system,  which  gives 
to  the  claims  of  justice  the  form  of  suffering  and  hate. 

The  wage  system  conduces  to  a  phlegmatic  condition. 
It  reduces  countless  multitudes  to  a  mechanical  method 
of  production,  dictated  by  a  minority  who  possess  the 
means  of  production,  thus  entailing  a  double  humilia- 
tion which  should  be  especially  distressing  to  the  educa- 
tors of  the  laborer  when  they  reflect  upon  the  situation. 

They  see  before  them  on  the  school  benches  children 
in  whom  noble  and  naive  sympathies  are  readily 
awakened.  The  teacher  urges  them  to  free  themselves 
from  egoism  and  hatred,  to  love  their  comrades  and  to 
love  mankind.  He  also  urges  them  to  shake  off  all 
routine,  all  sluggishness  of  mind  and  will,  to  think  for 
themselves  and  to  act  freely,  according  to  those  rules 
of  reason  and  justice  which  have  been  verified  by  their 
own  consciences.  But  when  they  have  grown  to  man- 
hood, what  use  will  these  children  find  for  their  splendid 
capacities  for  human  sympathy,  moral  autonomy,  and 
intellectual  initiative,  when  as  passive  tools  they  are 
called  to  develop  vast  domains,  the  exploitation  of 
which  will  be  directed  by  some  capitalist ;  when  they 
are  swallowed  up  in  mines  and  mills  and  yards,  in  all 
those  vast  industrial  enterprises  of  which  capital  alone 
controls  the  development?  It  seems  to  me  that  for 
the  teacher  who  thinks,  there  is  a  poignant  contrast 


JEAN  JAURES  113 

between  the  forces  of  human  brotherhood  and  Hberty, 
which  he  strives  to  awaken  in  young  consciences,  and 
the  state  of  harshness  and  conflict,  of  hatred  and 
passivity,  in  which  they  will  take  part  tomorrow. 
Can  it  be  true?  Can  this  living,  limpid  water,  which 
runs  and  frolics,  which  is  stirred  by  every  breath  of 
air,  by  every  flash  of  light,  which  reflects  the  laughing 
images  and  the  dazzling  brightness  of  life,  can  it  lose 
itself  tomorrow  in  the  black  depths  of  stagnant  servi- 
tude, stirred  only  by  eddies  of  rage  ?  No !  That  is 
an  intolerable  contradiction,  and  through  all  these 
children's  consciences  the  educator  of  the  people  feels 
in  his  own  conscience  all  the  wounds,  all  the  iniquities, 
all  the  degradation  of  this  social  system  of  privilege, 
exploitation,  and  conflict.  He,  too,  like  the  elite  of 
the  proletariat  whose  children  he  is  training,  aspires 
to  a  cooperative  society  in  which  capital  will  be  the 
property  of  nation  and  workers  together,  in  which  the 
federation  of  producers  will  grant  all  men  the  right 
to  assert  themselves  without  violence  or  hatred,  in 
which  all  minds  and  all  moral  energies  will  cooperate 
according  to  their  strength  in  the  direction  of  human 
betterment. 

In  the  light  of  this  ideal,  the  Declaration  of  the 
Rights  of  Man,  which  teachers  have  to  teach  and  ex- 
plain, takes  on  a  fuller  and  more  significant  meaning. 
Liberty?  Yes,  not  a  superficial  illusion,  however, 
but  liberty  realized  in  the  very  groundwork  and  habits 
of  life  —  that  is  to  say,  in  the  organization  of  work. 
Equality  ?  Yes,  but  not  a  nominal  equality,  a  mockery. 
Property?  Yes,  but  for  all,  as  a  universal  guarantee 
of  all  individual  liberty. 


114    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

Is  such  a  cooperative  and  really  free  society  im- 
possible and  chimerical?  Those  who  are  interested 
in  preventing  its  realization  pretend  that  it  is;  but 
it  is  establishing  itself  with  increasing  force  in  the 
minds  of  men,  and  it  is  beginning  to  be  worked  out  in 
practice.  Furthermore,  there  is  already  a  significant 
premonition  of  accomplishment  in  that  most  of  those 
who  oppose  the  socialistic  idea  no  longer  contest  its 
legitimacy  and  its  grandeur,  but  merely  declare  it  to  be 
impossible  of  realization.  But  how  many  once  absurd 
notions  are  today  accomplished  facts?  If  the  history 
which  the  schoolmasters  teach  shows  us  the  slowness 
of  human  evolution,  it  also  shows  us  that  human  effort 
is  not  sterile,  and  that  step  by  step  humanity  is  tending 
toward  justice. 

If  teachers  will  only  consider  a  moment,  what  a 
living  example  they  themselves  are  of  human  progress 
and  what  an  encouragement  to  hope!  This  people 
that  was  so  long  scornfully  and  deliberately  kept  in 
the  shadows  of  ignorance,  or  that  received  from  a  poor 
lamp  the  few  rays  that  could  filter  through  the  fingers 
of  the  priest,  this  people  has  today  in  every  district, 
in  every  ward,  in  every  hamlet,  lay  teachers,  republican 
educators,  who  can  transmit  to  them  all  the  light  of 
science,  all  the  thought  of  the  Revolution.  And  the 
schoolmasters,  in  order  to  give  the  people  liberty,  are 
beginning  to  win  it  for  themselves.  They  are  learn- 
ing to  think  freely ;  they  are  demanding  for  themselves 
freedom  of  speech;  they  are  teaching  the  State  and 
the  government  with  its  different  parties  to  recognize 
this  liberty.  Oh !  but  all  this  has  not  been  accom- 
plished without  difficulty  or  sacrifice.     The  reaction- 


JEAN  JAURES  115 

aries  hate  them,  lie  in  wait  for  them,  and  denounce 
them.  They  need  all  their  self-control,  all  their 
strength  of  mind  and  of  conscience,  to  face  the  storm 
and  to  stand  firm  in  the  face  of  calumny.  But  gradu- 
ally, by  their  calm  courage,  they  are  establishing 
precedents  which  can  never  again  be  ignored. 

Even  now  a  profound  solidarity  exists  between  the 
teachers  and  the  proletariat.  The  educator  of  the 
people  can  do  much  for  social  emancipation.  He  is 
called  upon  to  transform  the  conditions  of  life  on  the 
basis  of  justice,  to  replace  everywhere  exploitation 
by  right,  oppressive  hierarchies  by  cooperation,  war 
by  peace.  Educators  who  contribute  to  the  intellectual 
and  moral  development  of  this  class  in  humanity  and 
peace  share  in  the  grandeur  of  their  role,  because 
through  it  they  are  stimulated  to  still  greater  effort. 
In  this  sense  there  is  a  reciprocal  education  between 
the  teachers  and  the  proletariat. 

Does  this  mean  that  the  schoolmasters  should  be- 
come preachers  of  socialism  and  that  they  should 
bring  outside  controversies  into  the  school.?  That 
would  be  flouting  all  educational  method,  since  it 
would  be  putting  before  children  mooted  questions 
which  neither  their  theoretical  instruction  nor  their 
experience  in  life  would  permit  them  to  solve.  It 
would  not  be  teaching  socialism ;  it  would  be  bungling 
it  and  reducing  it  to  a  pseudo-catechism  in  which  real 
liberty  of  mind  would  have  no  place.  But  under  the 
inspiration  and  enlightenment  of  socialistic  theory, 
the  teacher  can  nevertheless  serve  his  ideal.  He  can 
constantly  awaken  intellectual  liberty  and  curiosity 
in  the  children  of  the  people.     He  can  give  them  the 


116    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

feeling  of  evolution.  In  the  history  of  the  past  which 
he  teaches  them,  it  is  not  only  the  external  forms  of 
government  which  have  been  modified ;  it  is  the  very 
bases  of  society  themselves.  From  the  ancient  world 
to  the  feudal  world,  from  the  feudal  world  to  the 
modern,  the  form  of  ownership  has  changed;  yet 
always  during  the  heyday  of  a  form  of  ownership  that 
particular  form  has  seemed  necessary  and  eternal,  and 
as  constantly  a  prophet  has  foreseen  new  forms,  better 
adapted  to  new  economic  needs,  to  new  demands  of 
liberty  and  humanity.  To  give  children  the  idea  of 
the  perpetual  movement  of  humanity;  to  deliver 
them  from  the  incubus  of  the  routine  and  the  burden 
of  despair  which  stifle  progress;  to  educate  them  so 
that  later,  when  an  effort  toward  a  higher  social  life 
is  proposed,  they  will  not  say  blindly,  "What  is  the 
use.'^  It  is  impossible,"  but  will  examine  all  new 
possibilities  of  freedom  in  a  fervent  spirit  —  that  is  a 
positive  service  which  the  socialist  teachers  can  render 
the  ideal  without  inflicting  upon  the  children  the 
mechanical  tyranny  of  a  formula. 

THE  SENTIMENT  OF  HUMAN  DIGNITY,  THE 
SOUL  OF  THE  LAY  SCHOOL  ^ 

A  LAY  conception  of  duty,  independent  of  all  religious 
support  and  founded  upon  the  abstract  idea  of  duty, 
does  not  need  to  be  created;  it  exists.  It  is  not  a 
mere  philosophic  doctrine.  Since  the  French  Revo- 
lution, it  has  been  an  established  reality,  a  social  fact ; 
for  the  Revolution,  when  it  asserted  the  rights  and  the 

»  From  Le  Dipeche  de  Toulouse,  June  8,  1892. 


JEAN  JAURES  117 

duties  of  man,  did  not  place  them  under  the  juris- 
diction of  any  dogma.  The  Revolution  did  not  say 
to  man,  "What  dost  thou  believe?"  It  said  to  him, 
"Behold  what  thou  art  worth,  and  what  thou  owest 
thy  fellows ! "  Since  then,  the  human  conscience 
alone,  liberty  controlled  by  a  sense  of  duty,  has  been 
the  foundation  of  the  whole  social  order. 

We  must  learn  whether  this  lay  moral  instruction, 
whether  this  purely  human  guide  which  is  the  soul 
of  our  institutions,  can  govern  and  at  the  same  time 
ennoble  every  individual  conscience.  We  must  learn 
whether  all  the  citizens  of  our  country,  peasants, 
working  men,  tradesmen,  producers  of  every  class  can 
feel  what  it  means  to  be  a  man,  and  feel  the  ob- 
ligation involved  therein.  The  vital  function  of  the 
school  lies  just  here. 

Since  our  schools  have  been  fully  secularized,  they 
assail  none,  but  they  dispense  with  every  religious 
creed.  It  is  not  from  this  or  that  dogma  that  they 
derive  the  principles  of  education.  They  are  accord- 
ingly bound  to  discover  and  bring  to  light  in  the  child's 
conscience  the  source  of  a  higher  moral  life  and  a  rule 
of  conduct.  Moral  instruction  should  therefore  be 
the  first  thought  of  our  teachers.  .  .  . 

For  all  our  duties,  even  for  seemingly  commonplace 
duties  like  cleanliness  and  sobriety,  we  should  assign 
the  highest  motives,  those  which  best  reveal  man's 
greatness.  By  this  means  we  can  give  all  children 
in  our  schools  a  concrete,  well-defined  feeling  of  the 
ideal.  At  first  sight,  it  might  seem  that  this  is  a  very 
pretentious  word  to  use  in  connection  with  our  pri- 
mary schools,  and  one  decidedly  beyond  the  under- 


118    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

standing  of  childhood;  but  such  is  not  the  case.  A 
vague,  hovering  sense  of  the  infinite  fills  the  soul  of 
every  child,  and  all  education  should  try  to  give  form 
to  this  infinite.  The  child  knows  full  well,  for  in- 
stance, that  he  must  not  lie.  He  knows  that  lying  is 
always  wicked,  that  lying  very  often  is  shameful,  that 
lying  is  almost  never  fairly  good,  and  if  one  never, 
never  lies,  that  would  be  perfection;  that  would  be 
the  ideal.  Likewise  if  one  never  gave  way  to  anger, 
never  indulged  in  backbiting,  never  was  jealous,  never 
succumbed  to  laziness  or  greed,  that  too  would  be  the 
ideal.  I  believe  it  is  thus  possible  to  lead  the  child  up 
to  the  idea  of  absolute  moral  perfection  and  of  saint- 
liness. 

And  how  great  would  be  that  humanity  in  which 
all  men  would  respect  human  dignity  in  others  and  in 
themselves,  in  which  all  men  would  tell  the  truth,  in 
which  all  would  shun  injustice  and  pride,  in  which  all 
would  respect  the  work  of  another,  the  right  of  another, 
and  would  resort  neither  to  violence  nor  to  trickery, 
nor  to  fraud !  That  would  be  the  perfect  society,  the 
ideal  humanity,  which  all  great  minds  and  great 
hearts  have  fostered  by  the  promulgation  of  the  gospel 
of  duty  and  submission  to  that  duty,  which  all  men, 
even  the  humblest,  the  very  children  also,  may  bring 
about  by  submission  to  moral  law ;  for  this  humanity 
will  be  formed  out  of  the  substance  of  self-denial  and 
self-sacrifice. 

Thus,  not  only  will  the  child  in  our  schools  under- 
stand what  the  moral  ideal  is  for  every  human  being, 
for  himself,  and  for  humanity  as  a  whole,  but  he  will 
feel  that  he  himself  can  contribute  by   uprightness 


JEAN  JAURES  119 

and  by  daily  performance  of  duty  to  the  realization 
of  the  human  ideal.  At  once  his  inner  life  will  be 
transformed  and  ennobled,  or  rather  the  inner  life 
will  have  been  created  in  him. 

This  is  the  highest  aim  within  the  province  of  the 
primary  school. 

THE  SCHOOL  AND  LIFE  ^ 

How  many  keen,  stirring,  profound  thoughts  I  might 
cite  in  this  book  of  M.  Blanguernon ! 

I  quite  agree  with  him  that  in  the  school  it  is  nec- 
essary to  avoid  all  sectarianism,  the  formulas  of  the 
future  that  are  too  limited,  narrow,  and  inflexible,  as 
well  as  the  dead  and  tyrannical  formulas  of  the  past. 

I  agree  with  him  that  if  life,  under  the  necessity  of 
taking  definite  action  and  of  reaching  some  positive 
conclusion,  is  obliged  to  formulate  a  doctrine  for  its 
guidance,  the  school  should  first  of  all  provide  the 
children  with  a  method  of  working  this  out,  with  habits 
of  observation,  of  reflection,  of  independent  thinking, 
of  appreciating  the  significance  of  cooperation,  that 
enthusiastic  union  of  free  wills  and  self-active  intelli- 
gences which  become  harmonious  by  virtue  of  their 
very  consonance. 

Yes,  I  accept  all  that,  and  I  believe  I  can  discern  that 
M.  Blanguernon  is  not  too  anxious  to  see  the  teachers 
venture  on  the  threshold  of  these  burning  questions : 
internationalism,  socialism,  syndicalism.  For  myself 
I  should  detest  the  educator  who  attempted  to  cast 

1  One  of  the  last  articles  published  by  Jaur^s  in  the  Revue  de  Venseigne- 
ment  primaire,  April  12,  1914.  It  is  in  criticism  of  M.  Blangueraon's  book. 
Pour  VScole  vivante  ("The  Vitalized  School"). 


120    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDlEALS  OF  TODAY 

young  minds  in  these  fiery  molds.  But  let  him  be- 
ware. He  wants  children  to  have  a  concrete  educa- 
tion. He  wants  them  to  be  led  into  the  very  presence 
of  nature  and  of  life.  He  even  wants  them  to  have 
awakened  in  them  as  far  as  possible  the  direct  feeling 
of  the  great  days  of  history,  of  the  great  conquests 
of  the  people  and  of  democracy,  as  well  as  of  the  great 
conquests  of  science.  Thus  we  see  him  calling  the 
children  together  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  feudal  castle 
in  his  neighborhood,  and  reading  to  them  on  the  spot 
the  old  charter  of  the  enfranchisement  of  the  town. 

But  lo !  the  spirit  of  conflict  rises  from  the  ruins, 
together  with  the  spirit  of  liberty.  For,  after  all,  it  is 
through  a  bitter  social  struggle  that  the  bourgeois  of 
the  towns  won  from  the  lords  the  first  charters  of 
freedom. 

Besides,  M.  Blanguemon  does  not  stop  there.  He 
begins  the  new  year  by  telling  the  children  through 
the  lips  of  the  schoolmaster  what  the  schoolmaster  is, 
why  there  is  a  schoolmaster,  why  the  Republic  has  a 
school  in  the  village.  How  many  conflicts  he  sums 
up  thereby !  And  what  battlefields  he  recalls !  But 
why  does  he  not  go  a  step  further?  For  generations 
there  has  been  a  movement  throughout  the  world, 
which  equals  in  grandeur  the  enfranchisement  of  the 
communes,  the  Revolution  of  1789,  the  efforts  of  the 
Republic  toward  laicization,  toward  reason,  and 
toward  a  sound,  strong,  popular  education.  It  is  the 
fundamental  struggle  of  the  proletariat  to  become 
participants  in  a  transformed  society.  But  let  not 
the  school  be  drawn  into  these  fiery  conflicts !  On  the 
other  hand,  when  you  speak  to  the  children,  do  not 


JEAN  JAURES  121 

seem  to  ignore  the  problem  which  is  present,  if  I  may 
say,  at  the  very  fireside  of  their  homes,  in  the  brain 
and  heart  of  the  father,  sometimes  even  in  the  tender 
or  restless  dream  of  the  mother.  Make  use  of  this 
bitter  reality  to  inspire  the  children,  to  ennoble  them. 
Tell  them,  "The  higher  the  social  ambitions  held  by 
the  working  class,  the  more  necessary  it  is  that  each 
one  of  its  sons  even  in  school  prepare  himself  by  work, 
by  wisdom,  by  thought,  by  voluntary  discipline,  for 
those  magnificent  and  difficult  destinies." 

How  could  the  school  be  "vitalized"  if  it  ignored 
such  a  great  part  of  life  before  the  children  who  are 
just  beginning  to  think  for  themselves  ? 


GEORGES  CLEMENCEAU 

Georges  Clemenceau  (1841-  ),  an  eminent  French  politician, 
and  now  (1919)  prime  minister,  was  bom  in  Vendee.  His  long  and 
stormy  parliamentary  career  has  been  marked  by  the  great  number 
of  ministerial  cabinets  successively  overturned  by  this  formidable 
chief  of  the  "Extreme-left  Opposition."  A  publicist  of  incom- 
parable power  and  fecundity,  he  has  often,  but  incidentally,  treated 
educational  questions.  The  article  reproduced  here  will  suffice 
to  give  a  specimen  of  the  boldness  of  his  conception,  of  the  uncom- 
promising character  of  his  judgment,  and  of  the  caustic  power  of 
his  language. 

THE  SCHOOLMASTER! 

When  I  read  the  history  of  these  wretched  teachers, 
alternately  scolded  by  the  prefect  for  their  indifference, 
rewarded  by  the  deputy  they  have  served,  and  reviled 
and  disgraced  by  whomever  they  have  opposed,  it  has 
seemed  to  me  that  the  unfortunate  schoolmaster  is 
truly  the  most  pitiable  victim  of  our  glorious  Republic. 
We  have  taken  a  peasant  and  stuffed  him  with  pre- 
mature textbook  knowledge,  in  which  clash  fearfully 
the  nonsense  of  ancient  scholasticism,  the  lies  of  official 
philosophy,  and  inchoate  scientific  data  which  are 
lacking  in  coordination  and  comprehensiveness.  We 
have  cradled  him  in  a  magnificent  illusion.  We  have 
told  him  that  he  was  the  ambassador  of  the  Republic 
to  the  denizens  of  the  rural  districts,  that  it  was  his 
mission  to  enlighten  these  young  understandings,  the 
inexhaustible  reservoir  of  the  energies  of  the  future, 
who  had  been  held  in  ignorance  until  now,  and  to 
awaken  in  them  ideas  of  liberty,  of  cooperation,  and 
of  justice.  And  then,  in  the  beautiful  brand-new 
school  we  have  triumphantly  installed  the  dazzled 
prophet  of  the  New  Word. 

*  Extract  from  the  daily  paper.  La  Justice^  June  26, 1894. 
122 


GEORGES  CLEMENCEAU  123 

"The  school  is  opened,"  says  the  inspector,  and  be- 
hold the  teacher  facing  about  fifty  torn,  dirty-faced 
little  rascals  who  are  dreaming  of  unnesting  black- 
birds, stealing  apples,  or  angling  for  crawfish. 

What  are  they  there  for?  They  have  not  the 
slightest  idea,  and  those  who  sent  them  have  and  can 
have  in  this  respect  but  the  very  vaguest  notions.  In 
life  it  is  useful  to  know  how  to  read  and  to  count. 
This  sums  up  the  opinion  of  the  French  peasant  as 
to  the  cultivation  of  the  mind.  As  for  having  an  idea 
of  the  intellectual  birth  in  question,  that  is  impossible. 

If  it  were-  otherwise,  why  make  instruction  ob- 
ligatory? At  all  events,  it  is  obligatory  to  so  slight 
an  extent  that  it  is  negligible.  I  have  seen  children 
whom  the  parents  considered  legitimately  excused 
from  school :  one,  aged  ten,  because  he  was  watching 
a  goat ;  another,  aged  eight,  because  he  was  employed 
at  agricultural  labor.  In  that,  as  in  all  other  respects, 
our  Republic  is  satisfied  with  appearances.  And,  in 
fact,  so  long  as  we  refuse  to  compensate  parents  who 
are  too  poor  to  do  without  the  work  of  the  little  ones, 
we  shall  find  it  very  difficult  to  substitute  obligatory 
intellectual  food  for  the  other  sort. 

However,  our  schoolmaster  is  in  the  presence  of  his 
pupils.  How  accost  these  young  hard  heads?  What 
spot  must  he  touch  to  cause  to  spurt  out  of  them  the 
desire  to  understand,  the  longing  to  know?  This 
teaching  of  the  school  amounts  to  very  little  indeed 
when  not  supplemented,  discussed,  and  developed  in 
the  home  by  the  conversation  of  the  parents.  In 
the  school  we  have  in  mind,  these  are  all  lacking.  The 
father  is  thinking  of  his   farm,    the   mother   of   her 


124    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

chickens.  Nobody,  fortunately,  pays  heed  to  the 
execrable  grammar  that  I  should  like  to  bum  up. 

Ah !  if  instead  of  stupefying  the  child  with  the 
arduous  study  of  incomprehensible  syntax,  the  master 
were  to  say:  "You  see  that  sun,  those  heavenly 
bodies,  this  earth  which  carries  you  away  through 
space  —  I  am  going  to  tell  you  their  history  and  show 
you  your  place  in  the  universe. 

"I  shall  tell  you  of  the  seasons,  of  atmospheric 
phenomena,  of  the  wind  and  the  rain,  which  will  shortly 
overtake  you  on  the  road  and  which  you  go  through 
like  the  sheep  in  your  flock,  without  asking  whence 
all  these  things  come.  For  the  first  time  you  will 
know  the  joy  of  asking  yourself  and  your  people  about 
the  phenomena  which  surround  you  and  strike  your 
suddenly  awakened  intelhgence. 

"And  then  we  shall  talk  of  this  planet  where  we  live, 
of  its  formation,  and  of  its  history.  Do  you  see  those 
blue  mountains  on  the  horizon?  You  will  know  of 
what  they  are  made,  and  how  they  came  there.  I 
shall  tell  you  of  the  ocean  and  its  tides,  of  the  river 
which  springs  from  the  snowy  mountains  and  throws 
itself  into  the  sea,  only  to  return  to  its  source  by  way 
of  the  clouds.  I  shall  give  you  the  history  of  the  stones 
in  your  fields,  and  if  you  find  a  fossil  shell  you  will 
know  whence  it  comes  and  the  story  that  it  tells.  I 
shall  tell  you  of  the  animals,  their  needs,  their  habits, 
their  life,  both  of  those  animals  around  you  and  of 
those  you  have  never  seen. 

"Finally  man  will  be  revealed  to  you.  I  shall  make 
you  know  yourself.  I  shall  show  you  the  bonds  that 
bind  you  to  everything  around  you.     I  shall  make 


GEORGES  CLEMENCEAU  125 

you  grasp  the  great  law  of  evolution,  from  the  nascent 
cell  up  to  the  development  of  the  most  intense  and 
complete  life.  We  shall  lead  man  from  his  primitive 
cavern  to  the  great  cities  of  the  world.  We  shall 
know  the  history  of  human  society,  of  the  ideas  and 
the  sentiments  through  which  it  has  developed  and 
progressed.  We  shall  study  the  customs,  laws,  and 
moral  rules  which  make  for  the  social  evolution  of  the 
human  race.  And  in  the  history  of  these  I  shall  fix 
the  history  of  your  race,  of  your  country,  in  fact  your 
history.  Thus  you  will  have  a  conception  of  the  world 
and  of  yourself,  so  far  as  you  are  able  to  grasp  it." 

I  am  expecting  to  be  told  that  such  a  statement 
would  be  made  in  vain  to  a  pupil  of  the  primary  school. 

He  hears  it,  however,  not  from  the  schoolmaster, 
but  from  the  priest.  The  priest  inculcates  in  him  a 
conception  of  the  world  acknowledged  to  be  false 
scientifically,  and  in  imposing  on  him  consecrated 
formulas  and  in  substituting  the  miracle  for  science, 
seeks  to  destroy  in  him  all  desire  for  investigation, 
for  inquiry,  and  for  criticism.  To  the  great  questions 
which  sooner  or  later  man  asks  himself,  it  is  only  the 
catechism  that  replies. 

Meanwhile,  the  teacher,  humiliated,  confined  to  his 
mechanical  function,  is  teaching  spelling  and  the  rule 
of  the  past  participle. 

True,  the  questions  which  the  catechism  settles 
with  a  word,  science  demonstrates  only  after  laborious 
and  painstaking  explanations.  But  let  these  questions 
be  analyzed  into  their  elements,  treated  in  rational 
order,  summed  up  clearly,  and  little  by  little  the  light 
will   penetrate   the  most  clouded   brain.     From   the 


126    FBENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

moment  one  begins  to  study  the  things  the  child  en- 
coimters  every  day,  which  are  under  his  eyes  and  at 
his  very  finger  tips,  he  will  suddenly  burst  out  with 
questions  of  all  sorts,  and  the  hard  shell  of  indifferent 
ignorance  will  be  forever  broken. 

Doubtless  the  art  of  teaching  is  necessary.  The 
great  educator  of  the  children  of  the  people,  Pestalozzi, 
has  been  dead  for  more  than  seventy  years.  What 
have  we  done  with  his  legacy  ? 

In  futile  efforts  the  pitiful  ambassador  of  the  Re- 
public to  the  inhabitants  of  the  rural  districts  consumes 
his  time  and  his  strength.  The  parents  are  inaccessible 
to  him;  the  country  squires  are  his  enemies.  With 
the  priest  there  is  latent  hostility ;  with  the  Cathohc 
schools  there  is  open  war.  The  latter  have  at  their 
disposal  greater  resources  than  the  teacher.  They 
steal  his  pupils.  They  crush  him  in  a  hundred  ways, 
sometimes  with  the  connivance  of  the  mayor,  usually 
with  the  cooperation  of  the  big  influences  in  the  com- 
mune. The  government,  which  should  defend  him 
but  which  often  abandons  him,  is  very  far  away.  The 
Church,  which  persecutes  him,  is  very  close  at  hand. 
A  law  eats  into  his  miserable  salary  on  the  pretext  of 
increasing  it  subsequently.  Today's  deputy  defends 
him;  tomorrow's  sacrifices  him.  He  is  spied  upon, 
hounded,  denounced.  One  word  too  many,  and  he  is 
lost. 

A  few  submit  unresistingly;  their  life  is  peaceful. 
The  life  of  the  others  is  a  constant  martyrdom. 

Thus  far  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  woman  teacher, 
against  whom  the  methods  of  the  enemy  are  even  more 
formidable.     Often  she  has  but  one  resource :    to  salve 


GEORGES  CLEMENCEAU  127 

her  own  conscience  in  order  to  obtain  the  disdainful 
tolerance  of  the  Church.  Many  do  not  fail  in  this; 
never  did  one  see  so  many  pious  exercises  in  the  school 
as  since  the  school  has  been  "Godless." 

Nevertheless,  the  intellectual  effort  is  at  hand  if 
only  encouraged.  There  are  most  precious  resources 
in  this  staff  of  ours,  but  we  should  not  dehver  it  to 
feed  the  devouring  lions. 

Courage,  O  thou  who  turnest  painfully  the  hard 
furrow !  Thou  sowest  the  first  seed  of  a  scanty  crop, 
but  thou  makest  the  seed  corn  for  the  great  harvest  of 
the  future.  And  when  thou  shalt  be  sleeping  the  good 
sleep  of  the  earth,  this  effort,  continuing  to  live,  will 
produce  its  fruit  for  humanity. 


FERDINAND  BUISSON 

Ferdinand  Buisson  (1841-  ),  agrege  in  philosophy ;  director 
of  primary  education,  1879-1896 ;  professor  of  the  science  of  edu- 
cation at  the  University  of  Paris,  1896-1906;  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  for  Paris,  1902-1914,  and  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Education  of  the  Chamber;  since  1896  editor-in- 
chief  of  the  principal  educational  journal  in  France,  Manuel  gSniral 
de  Vinstruction  jprimaire,  founded  by  Guizot  in  1833;  official 
delegate  of  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  at  the  international 
expositions  at  Vienna  (1873),  Philadelphia  (1876),  and  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  the  International  Congress  on  Education  at  Oakland 
(1915),  and  at  the  National  Education  Association  meeting,  Mil- 
waukee (1919) ;  editor  of  the  Dictionnaire  de  PSdagogie;  author  of 
various  books ;  publicist ;  lecturer.  Through  his  association  with 
Jules  Ferry,  M.  Buisson  probably  had  a  larger  share  in  organizing  the 
present  system  of  primary  education  in  France  than  any  other  man. 

THE  SCHOOLMASTER  AS  A  PIONEER  OF 
DEMOCRACY  —  DANGERS  OF  HIS  MISSION* 

In  the  crisis  which  we  are  studying,  the  role  that  the 
French  democracy  assigns  to  the  schoolmaster  is  the 
only  consideration  of  real,  fundamental  importance. 
It  has  its  burdens ;  it  has  its  perils.  Public  opinion, 
however,  is  not  always  fully  cognizant  of  these  facts. 
It  is  therefore  necessary  for  us  to  emphasize  them. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  world,  France  is  attempting  what 
some  one  has  called  an  "unheard-of  experiment."  She 
has  pledged  herself  to  establish  a  new  social  order 
founded  upon  reason  and  justice.  She  has  proclaimed 
the  rights  of  man,  enunciated  the  principle  of  universal 
liberty,  and  suppressed  all  caste  privileges.  Since 
escaping  as  if  by  a  miracle  from  all  forms  of  reaction 
and  starting  again  on  her  march  with  the  Third  Re- 
pubhc,  she  is  building  up  step  by  step  the  new  type 

*  Manttel  general,  September  28,  1909. 
128 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  129 

of  society  that  she  conceived  —  a  society  in  which 
each  individual  will  not  only  encounter  no  obstacle 
but  will  be  sure  to  receive  the  support  of  society  in  the 
free  and  complete  development  of  his  personality. 

Wishing  to  realize  this  ideal,  the  Republic  needed 
to  interest  the  entire  nation.  In  a  democracy  nothing 
is  done  unless  the  people  wish  it,  and  then  only  to  the 
extent  that  the  people  wish. 

The  Republic  found  a  man  in  each  village  who  was 
very  close  to  the  people,  one  possessing  the  confidence 
of  the  citizens,  and  enjoying  a  situation  at  once  modest 
and  independent,  whose  profession  removed  him  from 
petty  local  quarrels,  but  left  him  capable  of  exerting 
an  incalculable  influence,  through  the  children  upon  the 
family,  and  through  the  family  upon  the  district.  It 
was  natural,  it  was  inevitable,  that  the  Republic  in  its 
propaganda  should  have  made  of  the  schoolmaster  its 
first  national  agent,  the  sower  of  republican  ideas. 

Thus  the  schoolmaster's  social  r61e  evolved,  not  a 
product  of  faint  ambition,  nor  of  vain  presumption, 
but  of  the  very  force  of  circumstances. 

Could  he  fill  it  without  devoting  his  whole  soul  to  it  ? 
What  educator  could  accomplish  such  a  task  with  in- 
difference and  inactivity?  He  must  not  only  love  it, 
but  love  it  passionately. 

That  is  what  happened,  one  may  say,  to  the  body  of 
lay  schoolmasters  and  schoolmistresses.  It  has  be- 
come the  army  of  the  Republic. 

But  do  they  not  run  the  risk  of  appearing  at  times 
too  full  of  their  subjects,  too  enamoured  of  their  work, 
too  impatient,  too  enthusiastic,  these  men  and  women 
who  by  birth,  education,  and  calling  are  ceaselessly 


130    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  ibEALS  OF  TODAY 

impelled  to  develop  the  democratic  spirit  and  to  imbue 
our  youth  with  it?  They  form  a  sort  of  vanguard, 
as  it  were.  Yet  the  task  of  vanguards  is  to  precede, 
sometimes  by  quite  a  distance,  the  body  of  the  army, 
to  lose  sight  of  it  often,  sometimes  even  to  alarm  it  by 
too  great  daring. 

It  is  the  second  time  that  such  has  been  the  fortune 
of  the  lay  teachers.  Just  after  1848  they  were  ac- 
cused —  with  what  unjust  cruelty  —  of  being  "reds," 
"socialists,"  or  as  the  slang  of  the  day  expressed  it 
of  being  "democ-soc,"  which  sounded  a  little  like 
demagogues.  The  truth  is  they  had  welcomed  with 
a  burst  of  joy  the  humanitarian  promises  of  the  re- 
juvenated Republic.  When  the  country,  frightened 
by  the  "days  of  June,"  became  enmeshed  again  in 
political  and  social  reaction,  the  schoolmasters  were 
suspects ;  their  preaching  seemed  a  menace  to  law  and 
order;  and  people  were  only  too  ready  to  replace 
them  by  a  personnel  which  offered  very  different 
guarantees  to  the  conservative  spirit. 

Certainly  the  situation  is  no  longer  the  same.  Why  ? 
Solely  because  the  Republic  of  today  runs  no  risk  of 
foundering  like  the  frail  improvisation  of  1848.  But 
today,  as  at  that  earher  date,  the  teachers  are  none 
the  less  found  in  the  group  of  the  "extreme  left,"  the 
one  that  alarms  the  timid. 

And  how  many  people  there  were  who  at  the  first 
cry  of  alarm  hastened  to  exhort  the  teachers  to  dis- 
cretion and  moderation ! 

Leaving  all  details  in  the  background,  two  burning 
questions  preoccupy  the  public  and  furnish  a  pretext 
either  for  apprehension  or  for  calumny. 


FERDINAND   BUISSON  131 

The  schoolmasters  are  accused,  at  least  the  youngest 
and  most  enterprising  among  them  are,  of  having 
adopted  the  program  of  the  radicals,  so  far  as  it  con- 
cerns syndicalism  on  the  one  hand,  and  anti-militarism 
on  the  other.  Upon  both  these  points  it  is  easy  to 
misrepresent  their  attitude. 

Now  the  teachers  have  a  very  simple  means  of  saving 
themselves.  They  merely  have  to  enunciate  opinions 
that  are  purely  and  simply  conservative,  calling  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  existing  status  in  the  civil  and 
in  the  military  order.  But  they  cannot.  Anxious  as 
they  may  be  to  teach  as  well  as  they  ever  taught 
respect  of  law  and  the  cult  of  the  flag,  it  is  no  longer 
possible  for  them  to  confine  themselves  exclusively 
to  this  teaching  and  the  aspect  it  formerly  assumed. 

To  the  sons  of  working  men  and  peasants  whose 
education  the  Republic  confides  to  them,  they  are 
bound  to  give  a  course  in  civic  instruction  which  will 
enable  these  children  to  live  in  the  twentieth  century 
and  not  in  the  eighteenth,  in  a  democratic  republic 
and  no  longer  under  a  king  or  an  emperor.  They  are 
bound  to  teach  their  pupils  that  the  Republic  wishes 
all  men  to  "be  born  and  to  remain  free  and  in  rights 
equal " ;  that  it  will  be  neither  a  blameworthy  nor  a 
chimerical  hope  on  their  part  to  desire  to  see  this  ideal 
realized ;  that  this  realization  depends  in  great  meas- 
ure upon  themselves;  that  the  political,  economic, 
and  intellectual  emancipation  of  the  workers  will  be 
the  act  of  the  workers  themselves ;  that  it  suflfices  for 
them  to  agree,  to  organize,  to  teach  themselves  to  apply 
the  perfectly  legal  means  of  political  action  which 
universal    suffrage    offers    them,    the    syndicate    and 


132    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

economic  cooperation;  that  to  this  end  there  is  need 
of  having  recourse  neither  to  rioting,  nor  to  dynamite, 
nor  to  sabotage,  nor  to  any  form  of  violence;  and 
finally  that  the  lesson  of  these  last  years,  not  only  in 
France,  but  in  Belgium,  Germany,  and  England, 
proves  that  through  association  the  proletariat  can 
become  a  power,  capable  of  treating  with  other  powers 
as  their  peer.  All  this,  they  are  bound  to  teach. 
Such  being  the  case,  they  can  show  only  a  cordial 
sympathy  and  a  fraternal  spirit  to  all  efforts  toward 
organization  on  the  part  of  the  working  class. 

On  the  other  hand,  they  can  no  longer  believe  that 
war  is  an  institution  forever  necessary  and  inevitable. 
They  belong  to  a  people  who  have  always  passed  for 
brave  men  and  who  have  one  of  the  richest  heritages 
of  military  glory  that  history  records,  but  who  also 
treasure  in  their  family  inheritance  the  persistent  idea 
of  abolishing  war  and  of  substituting  for  bloody  vi- 
olence between  peoples  and  between  men  the  rational 
law  of  arbitration.  They  will  not  hide  from  these 
French  youths  that  a  Frenchman  of  the  twentieth 
century  dare  no  longer  have  the  mental  attitude  of  the 
soldiers  of  Louis  XIV  or  of  the  "growlers"  of  Na- 
poleon. They  will  not  leave  the  youth  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  we  send  statesmen  to  The  Hague  to  write 
line  by  line  with  labored  pen,  but  none  the  less  surely, 
the  charter  of  a  civilization  to  come,  which  some  day 
perhaps  will  solve  by  simple  and  peaceful  arbitration 
the  conflicts  that  are  so  tragically  and  sometimes  so 
wrongly  decided  today  by  the  massacre  of  millions  of 
men. 

On  these  two  points  the  teacher  of  1907  is  obliged 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  133 

by  his  profession  to  act  in  sympathy  with  his  time  and 
his  comitry. 

M.  Leygues  used  to  say  that  the  University  (in- 
cluding in  this  generic  term  all  the  establishments  of 
pubhc  instruction)  should  teach  democracy  and  the 
Republic.  The  teacher  would  fail  in  this  mission  if, 
through  prudence  or  through  fear,  he  addressed  his 
pupils  in  the  same  language  that  his  predecessors  might 
have  used  under  Louis  Philippe  or  Napoleon  III. 

What,  then,  is  the  diflSculty  ?  And  why  is  the  school- 
master of  our  time  wrestling  with  practical  problems  that 
his  predecessors  did  not  have  and  that  are  not  known 
to  the  same  extent  by  his  colleagues  in  other  countries  ? 

We  have  just  seen  the  reason.  It  is  because  he  is 
being  asked  what  has  never  before  been  asked  of  a 
teaching  body  :  to  teach  at  the  same  time  for  both  the 
present  and  the  future. 

The  French  schoolmaster  is  the  servant  of  a  republic 
and  of  a  democracy  that  does  not  insult  him  by  be- 
lieving him  neutral,  indifferent,  or  skeptical.  This 
republic,  this  democracy,  wishes  him  to  speak  for  her, 
to  act  openly  for  her,  to  make  her  understood,  to  make 
her  loved,  to  furnish  her  with  generations  of  men  in- 
spired with  principles  of  republican  and  democratic 
faith.  He  must,  therefore,  give  these  new  generations 
a  twofold  education,  the  one  they  need  immediately 
and  the  one  that  they  will  doubtless  need  later,  for  the 
democracy  is  constantly  advancing,  and  the  young 
must  be  able  to  advance  with  her.  They  are  not  des- 
tined to  live  indefinitely  the  life  of  the  present,  this 
transitional  moment  which  is  no  longer  the  monarchy 
and  which  is  not  yet  the  perfect  democracy. 


1S4    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

A  twofold  education,  then,  for  our  children  when 
they  become  citizens  will  entail  a  twofold  duty. 
Whether  they  consider  national  or  foreign  policy, 
social  relations  or  international  relations,  they  will 
have  constantly  to  harmonize  the  vision  of  the  future 
with  the  good  of  the  present,  the  hope  of  tomorrow 
with  the  obligation  of  today. 

From  the  social  point  of  view  our  pupils  can  not  only 
hope  for,  but  they  should  support  vigorously  with 
their  votes  and  with  their  united  efiPorts  a  demand  for, 
a  state  of  affairs  more  and  more  in  conformity  to  the 
principles  of  justice.  The  teacher  should  inspire  in 
them  the  spirit  of  association  and  cooperation.  Thus 
he  will  arm  them  against  the  so-called  revolutionary 
methods,  which  can  only  retard  the  real  economic 
revolution,  against  the  revolutionary  general  strike, 
against  sabotage,  "that  affront  to  the  conscience  of 
work,"  against  illegal  and  violent  action,  which  is  but 
one  more  disorder  added  to  others,  —  in  short,  against 
all  forms  of  anarchy,  which  would  do  more  harm  to  the 
democratic  and  social  republic  than  they  would  to  any 
other  society. 

Where  the  military  question  is  concerned,  we  have 
the  same  twofold  duty  to  perform. 

That  which  makes  the  task  of  the  teacher  both 
unique  and  noble  is  that  as  he  awakens  in  the  souls 
of  the  young  people  the  idea  of  one  of  the  greatest 
advances  humanity  can  make,  he  will  tell  them  that 
the  best  means  of  hastening  this  great  reform  is  to  sup- 
port with  all  their  energy  the  country  that  has  con- 
ceived this  reform  and  may  some  day  have  the  honor 
of  carrying  it  through  triumphantly.     Far,  then,  from 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  135 

lessening  the  duty  these  young  citizens  owe  the  country, 
this  outlook  can  only  strengthen  it,  since  it  gives  them -^ 
additional  reasons  for  shedding  their  blood  for  their 
country  if  such  a  sacrifice  becomes  necessary.  It 
cannot  be  said  that  the  teacher  will  not  equip  his 
pupils  for  the  dread  struggles  that  may  await  them. 
Spare  him  the  outrage  of  asking  what  he  thinks  of 
anti-patriotism  and  its  disgraceful  paradoxes.  If  he 
ever  encounters  a  mind  which  these  miserable  sophisms 
can  influence,  he  will  know  how  to  grapple  with  them 
and  crush  them,  not  in  the  name  of  a  dogma,  but 
through  an  energetic  appeal  to  the  most  natural  senti- 
ments as  well  as  the  most  elementary  good  sense. 
Save  in  such  a  case,  he  will  not  launch  out  into  decla- 
mations. True  patriotism  is  like  all  other  virtues; 
an  honest  man  does  not  make  a  display  of  it.  The 
teacher  prefers  acts  to  words.  The  conduct  of  his 
pupils  will  prove  that  they  know  how  to  serve  their 
country  like  men,  assuming  if  necessary  all  possible 
sacrifices.  In  suggesting  this  conduct  he  no  longer 
appeals  to  hatred  of  the  foreigner,  or  love  of  glory,  or 
blind  chauvinism,  or  the  intoxication  of  battle.  His 
pupils  will  find  an  equally  strong  incentive  in  the  clear  ' 
notion  of  duty  and  in  the  vivid  feeling  of  the  devotion 
they  owe  to  France;  for  is  not  serving  France  the  ^ 
surest  way  of  serving  humanity  ? 

In  our  estimation  such  is  the  deeper  meaning  of 
the  "crisis  in  primary  education." 

The  moment  through  which  modern  civilization  is 
passing  imposes  upon  the  teacher  two  functions,  two 
tasks,  which  seem  to  contradict  each  other,  but  which 
nevertheless  he  is  expected  to  perform  simultaneously. 


136    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

He  is  a  pioneer  in  all  Hie  new  ideas  which  are  the 
very  soul  of  the  democracy.  Nevertheless  he  should 
keep  himself  and  his  pupils  from  digressions,  from  ex- 
cesses, and  from  impatience.  In  speaking  to  the 
young,  he  should  appeal  frankly  to  all  the  generosity 
that  youth  possesses,  to  faith  in  progress,  to  enthu- 
siasm for  the  good.  At  the  same  time  he  should 
dissuade  from  employing  methods  that  appear  the 
most  expeditious,  but  which  are  brusque  and  brutal. 
He  should  inspire  a  determination  to  urge  society 
forward  by  reason  and  not  by  force. 

Commissioned  to  propagate  the  spirit  of  solidarity, 
the  love  of  liberty,  the  thirst  for  justice,  the  will  to 
progress,  the  schoolmaster  should  perform  his  function 
as  magistrate  of  civic  education  while  at  the  same  time 
binding  himself  to  neutrality  in  everything  that  does 
not  concern  the  very  principles  of  democracy  itself. 

He  is  both  a  militant  and  a  man  of  peace.  At  heart 
he  is  in  sjonpathy  with  the  people,  yet  he  must  not 
teach  class  hatred.  He  is  the  servant  of  the  nation, 
and  at  the  same  time  he  is  conscious  of  an  inter- 
national duty.  He  says  openly,  "Have  a  horror  of 
\    war !"     But  he  prepares  his  pupils  to  be  good  soldiers, 

capable  some  day  of  being  heroes. 
«  We  readily  acknowledge  that  such  a  task  is  less 
simple  than  that  of  the  schoolmaster  of  a  bygone  day. 
But  it  is  to  the  honor  of  the  teachers,  men  and  women, 
such  as  the  Republic  has  made  them,  that  one  should 
consider  putting  into  their  hands  the  moral  direction 
of  a  whole  people,  not  determining  exactly  what  is 
expected  of  them,  but  leaving  them  to  act  freely,  with 
reason  for  a  guide  and  conscience  as  judge. 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  187 

Are  we  not  justified  in  saying  that  rarely  in  history 
has  a  bolder,  a  more  delicate  and  diflScult  enterprise 
been  confided,  not  to  a  carefully  chosen  elite,  but  to  a 
corps  of  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  persons 
taken  from  the  lower  strata  of  the  nation  ? 

As  a  reward  for  such  labor  they  have  been  both 
loaded  with  insults  and  covered  with  praise.  Those 
who  know  nothing  of  their  action  reproach  them  by 
turns  with  doing  too  much  or  with  doing  too  little 
for  public  education,  but  there  is  nothing  in  all  this 
which  need  astonish  or  move  them. 

May  they"  remain  united;  may  they  remain  what 
they  are,  with  upright  minds  anjd  warm  hearts,  simple 
without  being  naive,  men  of  faith  without  mysticism, 
possessed  of  practical  sense  without  platitudes,  en- 
thusiasts and  realists  at  once,  —  in  short,  primary 
teachers !  May  they  welcome  criticism  as  they  con- 
tinue their  work !  The  issue  will  show  them  to  be  right, 
and  thanks  to  them,  complicated  as  it  may  be,  the 
crisis  in  primary  education  will  solve  itself.  They 
will  have  proved  the  value  of  the  movement  by  march- 
ing forward ;    the  country  will  follow. 

EDUCATION  OF  THE  WILL^ 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :     It  is  not   customary  to   * 
write  a  closing  lecture,  and  I  only  decided  to  prepare 
the  present  one  in  response  to  a  request  made  by  some 
of  you  who  wished,  as  they  told  me,  to  preserve  a  kind 
of  memento  of  the  principal  ideas  which  we  have  been 

*  Extract  from  the  closing  lecture  of  the  course  in  pedagogy  delivered 
at  the  Sorbonne,  June  22,  1899.  Reprinted  from  Chapter  XVI  of  the 
Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  1902. 


138    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

considering  in  the  present  course,  and  of  the  peda- 
gogical instruction  which  can  be  derived  from  them. 
I  will  endeavor  to  afford  you  some  satisfaction  in  this 
respect  without  attempting  to  disguise  from  myself 
that  such  a  summary  as  I  am  compelled  to  give  will 
be  necessarily  abrupt  and  dry.  All  that  gives  ani- 
mation to  instruction  will  have  disappeared,  and  only 
the  skeleton  will  remain. 

The  course  for  the  school  year  (1898-1899)  was  de- 
voted to  the  education  of  the  will.  We  concluded  the 
review  of  the  different  domains  of  the  mind  by  study- 
ing that  in  which  all  the  others  meet,  and  we  found  that 
in  the  domain  of  moral  action  or  conduct  there  are 
also  three  successive  stages.  Here  also  we  saw  that 
there  spring  up  spontaneously  from  the  depths  of 
human  nature  not  moral  ideas  or  sentiments,  to  be 
sure,  but  certain  first  feeble  desires,  which,  however 
unstable  and  vacillating  they  may  be,  cannot  be 
treated  with  contemptuous  disregard.  Doubtless  the 
child  has  no  abstract  and  general  idea  of  justice  and 
injustice,  but  it  feels  an  injustice  very  keenly,  which 
is  one  of  the  earliest  ways  of  understanding  or  divin- 
ing the  law  of  justice.  It  could  not  formulate  the  rule 
of  equality ;  but  its  cries,  tears,  and  anger  show  that 
it  will  not  endure  inequality,  at  least  to  its  own  harm. 
These  are  but  feeble  and  doubtful  manifestations  of 
the  moral  sense,  it  is  true,  but  suppose  we  are  con- 
fronted by  a  child  in  whom  they  had  never  appeared. 
Would  it  ever  be  possible  to  instill  into  its  mind  a 
notion  of  good  and  evil,  if  it  never  had  experienced 
this  confused  and  vague  anticipation  of  those  abstrac- 
tions in  its  own  feeUngs,  so  that  it  could  reason  by 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  139 

analogy  or  perceive  by  intuition  ?  The  teacher  — 
and  in  the  child's  earliest  years  the  teacher  is  a  woman 
—  must  endeavor  to  aid  these  imperceptible  beginnings 
of  an  almost  instinctive  morality.  Let  this  little  stem, 
hardly  visible  at  first,  grow,  and  await  the  result.  It 
is  the  nascent  will,  which  must  not  be  touched  even 
to  help  it  start  out  of  the  earth.  Let  the  sun,  the  rain, 
the  coolness  of  night,  and  the  nourishing  fluids  of  the 
soil  and  its  own  sap  do  the  work. 

We  must  not  forget  that  side  by  side  with  the  in- 
stincts which  we  call  good,  others  which  we  call  bad 
develop  in  the  child  with  equal  vigor.  In  reality 
these  instincts  are  neither  good  nor  bad ;  they  merely 
exist  like  all  natural  things;  they  are  and  struggle 
one  against  the  other.  It  is  our  work  to  defend  the 
weaker  against  the  stronger,  the  superior  emotions 
against  the  mass  of  coarser  feelings,  the  more  delicate 
and  complex  dispositions,  the  more  truly  human  in- 
clinations, against  the  simple,  gross,  and  blind  appe- 
tites of  pure  animality.  Here  begins  the  second  stage 
of  moral  education,  the  revelation  of  effort.  To 
choose  is  an  effort,  but  to  choose  the  most  diflScult  and 
least  natural  of  two  courses  is  moral  effort  which  the 
child  must  be  taught,  and  which  the  grown  man  him- 
self goes  on  learning  and  relearning  until  his  last  hour. 
When  does  this  phase  of  moral  apprenticeship  be- 
gin .'^  No  one  can  say,  for  it  begins  long  before  the 
child  can  suspect  it.  The  mother  says,  "You  must," 
"You  must  not,"  and  as  if  by  a  miracle  makes  her 
child  understand  this  command  before  it  can  speak  or 
walk.  Its  will  is  not  yet  in  action,  notwithstanding 
that  it  has  been  solicited,  attracted,  and  won  by  a 


140  FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  Ii:)EALS  OF  TODAY 

thousand  seductive  persuasions  of  speech,  of  smiles, 
of  plays,  of  examples  to  imitate,  of  caresses  and  threats, 
of  love  and  fear,  of  mechanical  imitation,  and  of  ex- 
citation of  the  nerves,  without  mentioning  the  secret 
influences  of  heredity.  But  as  time  goes  on  and  the 
natural  development  of  its  understanding  proceeds, 
the  education  of  the  child  should  make  a  direct  appeal 
to  the  effort  of  the  will.  Good  and  evil  should  be 
explained  and  be  contrasted  with  each  other.  The 
schoolmaster  who  has  taken  the  place  of  the  mother 
represents  an  authority  which  exacts  obedience  im- 
periously instead  of  obtaining  it  by  entreaty,  surprise, 
or  persuasion.  The  idea  of  duty  now  appears,  and 
with  it  the  notion  that  where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a 
way.  Hence,  the  necessity  of  willing.  Who  is  to 
will,  the  master  or  the  pupil  ?  Both ;  but  the  master's 
will  tends  to  prod  the  pupil's  into  action,  an  effect 
which  is  usually  attained  in  one  of  two  ways.  One 
of  these  looks  for  an  immediate  result  which  is  ap- 
parently very  satisfactory,  and  consists  in  bending 
the  pupil's  will  in  compliance  with  the  authority  of 
the  master.  The  other  aims  at  another  end,  incom- 
parably more  diiBBcult  to  accompHsh,  and  this  is  to 
make  the  young  will  comply  with  a  law  which  it  makes 
itself  and  yet  respects.  This  constitutes  the  wide 
difference  between  the  education  based  on  authority 
and  the  hberal  education.  To  act  from  external  com- 
pulsion or  from  inner  reason,  these  are  the  two  opposite 
systems  of  the  moral  government  of  the  chiM,  and 
later  of  the  man.  There  is  no  need  to  insist  upon  our 
choice  between  these  two  pedagogies  and  our  reasons 
for  it.     But  we  did  endeavor  to  point  out  the  real 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  141 

character  and  conditions  of  that  effort  to  act  from  inner 
conviction  which  we  regard,  in  common  with  the  moral- 
ists of  the  liberal  school,  as  the  masterpiece  of  the 
education  of  the  character.  The  law  which  we  found 
to  prevail  in  the  domain  of  physiology,  also  holds  good 
in  our  psychological  history.  Effort  is  an  expenditure 
of  energy.  Moral  or  intellectual  effort,  as  well  as 
muscular,  is  an  intermittent  phenomenon,  a  tension 
of  the  spring  which  is  followed  by  a  release.  It  can 
be  renewed,  but  the  renewal  cannot  be  continued  too 
long  with  impunity,  for  that  would  injure  the  machinery 
and  destroy  its  elasticity.  The  teacher,  therefore, 
must  refrain  from  keeping  up  the  moral  tension  of  the 
mind  continuously.  He  should  endeavor  to  remember 
that  the  exercise  of  the  will  should  consist  of  a  long 
series  of  short,  distinct  efforts,  and  not  a  long,  uni- 
formly sustained  one.  If  this  alternation  of  work  and 
rest,  of  energetic  action  and  relaxation,  is  necessary 
for  the  adult  at  all  times,  how  much  more  necessary 
is  it  to  insure  these  intervals  of  relaxation  for  the  child, 
without  which  his  good  disposition  itself  will  become 
embittered  or  even  exhausted.  To  forget  that  they 
must  stop  short  of  the  beginning  of  fatigue,  and  so 
prevent  wear  and  tear  of  the  spring,  is  the  danger  to 
be  guarded  against  by  even  the  best  of  pedagogues. 
There  is  always  a  considerable  difference  between  our 
own  power  of  application,  intellectual  or  moral,  and 
that  of  our  children  or  pupils,  which  we  tend  to  lessen 
at  their  expense  through  impatience.  Let  us  learn 
patience  and,  as  Rousseau  said,  learn  to  lose  time  in 
order  to  gain  it.  What  will  best  aid  us  in  this  attempt 
is  a  knowledge  of  the  real  place  of  effort  in  the  moral 


142    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

life,  a  knowledge  which  will  teach  us  not  to  esteem  it 
too  highly  or  too  low.  To  this  end  we  must  familiarize 
ourselves  with  the  new  ideas  which  biology  has  revealed 
to  us. 

Under  the  microscope  the  smallest  piece  of  organic 
tissue  is  seen  to  contain  thousands  of  cells  in  juxta- 
position which  are  constantly  splitting  up,  ramifying, 
and  interminghng.  They  are  the  ultimate  particles 
of  hving  matter.  They  constitute  a  world  by  them- 
selves and  yet  a  world  which  forms  only  one  living 
being.  This  indescribable  multiplicity  ends  in  the 
perfect  unity  of  a  hving  being,  and  this  fact  of  organic 
life  is  an  exact  image  of  the  hfe  of  the  mind.  It  also 
is  composed  of  an  infinite  number  of  infinitely  small 
acts :  feeble  desires  which  become  volitions,  the 
voHtions  becoming  will ;  reflex  actions  which  gradually 
become  endowed  with  consciousness,  these  conscious 
movements  ending  in  voluntary  movements ;  impulses 
and  inhibitions  whose  origin  is  unknown,  but  whose 
free  play  finally  creates  a  psychical  activity  which 
has  nothing  analogous  in  the  rest  of  the  universe. 
When  we  consider  all  these  intermingled  series  of  most 
diverse  phenomena,  which,  starting  from  the  lowest 
plane  of  the  vegetative  life,  reach  to  the  highest  summit 
of  the  moral  life,  what  imagination  can  fail  to  be  con- 
founded with  a  network  of  such  extent,  such  delicate 
fragihty,  such  inextricable  complication  ? 

Now,  just  as  the  life  of  an  animal  is  no  longer  for 
us  a  simple  thing  like  the  word  which  designates  it, 
but  a  living  unit  composed  of  millions  of  living  cells, 
each  imperceptible  to  us,  so  the  moral  life  appears  to 
us  as  nothing  more  than  the  resultant  of  innumerable 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  143 

acts  each  of  which  is  insignificant  in  itself.  It  is,  like 
the  life  of  the  body,  a  perpetually  changing  existence, 
which,  in  the  last  analysis,  resolves  itself  into  a  suc- 
cession of  microscopic  elements  extending  to  infinity. 
And  it  is  precisely  and  exclusively  with  these  infinitely 
small  elements  of  action  that  our  work  as  educators 
is  concerned.  To  bind  the  human  being  and  trans- 
form him,  as  it  were,  by  main  strength  and  at  once, 
according  to  our  will,  is  something  we  cannot  do.  But 
to  take  the  young  child,  a  being  pliant  and  plastic, 
made  of  fleeting  and  changing  matter  which  daily  and 
hourly  acquires  new  atoms,  grains  of  sand  or  rather 
grains  of  life,  which  accumulate  and  combine  with 
each  other  in  mysterious  and  unfathomable  elabora- 
tion, and  intervene  in  the  thousands  of  fleeting  minute 
acts  by  which  he  gives  us  hold  upon  him,  this  we  can 
and  should  do.  These  are  very  trifling  matters  per- 
haps some  one  will  say,  without  perhaps  sufficiently 
reflecting  upon  the  important  part  which  contingency 
plays  in  human  nature  and  possibly  in  nature  at  large. 
It  is  true  that  each  of  the  little  victories  over  a  child 
may  be  nothing  in  itself.  Doubtless  the  inconstancy 
of  the  child,  his  versatility  and  levity,  make  it  seem 
as  if  everything  must  be  begun  over  and  over  again. 
But  is  not  this  plasticity  of  infancy  the  very  reason 
for  its  education?  The  endless  series  of  eddies  of  the 
invisible  currents  that  move  incessantly  in  the  depths 
of  the  child's  being,  the  insignificance  of  all  these 
movements  taken  separately,  and  their  incessant  repe- 
tition in  unexpected  ways,  the  impossibility  of  measur- 
ing their  immediate  effect  or  of  calculating  their  remote 
consequences,    are    not   all    these   considerations    the 


144    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

surest  guaranty,  in  the  practical  field,  of  our  free  will 
and  are  they  not  our  best  reason  not  to  despair  of  it? 
Who  can  say  how  so  feeble  a  creature  as  a  child  will 
turn  out  upon  whom  so  many  thousands  of  ideas,  sen- 
sations, and  feelings  of  attraction  or  repulsion,  of 
pressure  from  above  and  below,  must  exert  their  in- 
fluence and  incite  to  action  during  years  of  slow  forma- 
tion ? 

We  must  not  disdain  "the  infinitely  small"  of  the 
details  of  school  life,  and  ask  contemptuously  what 
signifies  missing  one  recitation  more  or  less?  What 
if  one  lesson  be  ill  learned  or  one  duty  be  ill  done? 
What  effect  can  merely  one  expression  of  encourage- 
ment or  one  example  have,  or  a  single  word  or  gesture, 
or  a  look?  These  nothings  are  the  dust  from  which 
time  makes  a  solid  rock,  and  they  are  in  the  hands 
of  the  teacher  who  thus,  by  such  infinitesimal  degrees, 
influences  the  pupil.  The  teacher  can  never,  to  be 
sure,  become  the  master  of  his  pupil's  nature  irrev- 
ocably, but  he  can  have  thousands  of  opportunities 
of  depositing  in  the  young  mind,  unnoticed,  a  seed 
which  may  possibly  remain  forever  inert  but  which 
also  may  spring  up.  No  one  can  tell  whether  a  given 
insignificant  resolve  taken  by  the  pupil  some  day 
about  some  trifling  matter  of  his  infantile  life  may 
not  be  the  first  term  of  a  series  which  shall  continue 
beyond  all  calculation.  What  is  certain  is  that  there 
is  no  act  which  does  not  leave  some  trace,  not  one 
which  may  not  be  the  beginning  of  a  habit,  not  one 
which  does  not  have  an  appreciable  weight  in  the 
balance  in  which  are  weighed  the  imponderable  ele- 
ments of  a  character  and  therefore  of  a  destiny.     Such 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  145 

considerations  are  sufficient  to  impress  upon  the 
teacher  both  the  humiHty  and  the  grandeur  of  his  work. 
He  labors  to  form  a  character  as  nature  builds  up  a 
coral  reef.  Molecule  by  molecule,  atom  by  atom,  he 
elaborates  the  substance  of  the  moral  being.  There 
is  nothing  grand  in  this  process  except  the  endless 
addition  of  little  to  little.  The  effort  of  the  will  is  in 
the  moral  life  just  as  much  and  just  as  little  as  the 
muscular  effort  is  in  the  physical  life.  Child  or  adult, 
what  can  man  do.^  It  is  with  his  will  as  with  the 
beatings  of  his  heart.  Its  rhythm  is  short.  The 
largest  supply  of  air  for  respiration  lasts  but  a  few 
seconds,  and  the  greatest  provision  of  virtue  hardly 
suffices  us  to  face  the  smallest  crisis,  after  which  we 
must  take  breath  and  brace  ourselves  anew  for  the 
next  struggle,  which,  too,  will  not  be  the  last.  And 
the  superficial  observer  cries  out:  "Poor  wrestler, 
you  do  not  win.  Why  struggle  forever,  always  getting 
up  merely  to  fall  again  ?  " 

But  this  observer  is  mistaken,  and  the  proof  that  we 
advance  a  little  by  each  little  victory  without  our 
knowing  it  is  that  after  a  time  the  moment  comes 
(when,  how,  why,  no  one  can  tell,  either  for  another 
or  for  himself)  when  effort  is  found  to  have  ceased. 
At  least  it  ceases  to  be  effort  but  is  now  a  condition, 
and  this  is  the  third  phase  of  the  evolution  of  the  will. 
What  once  cost  us  so  much  pain  is  now  ours  in  peace. 
There  is  now  no  more  bitterness  of  renunciation,  no 
more  agony  of  sacrifice,  but  peaceful  calm,  soon  to  be 
followed  by  a  sense  of  deep  satisfaction.  This  con- 
dition is  like  the  effect  of  an  acquired  velocity  whereby 
an  obstacle  is  overcome  almost  without  noticing  it. 


146    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

The  first  upright  act  done  by  a  child,  the  first  penny 
or  the  first  plaything  he  finds  and  returns  to  its  owner, 
the  first  self-imposed  privation  for  the  sake  of  his 
fellows,  the  first  spontaneous  acknowledgment  of  a 
fault  which  he  might  have  concealed  —  each  of  these 
little  efforts  is  an  event  in  his  life,  and  they  must  be 
often  repeated  in  order  to  become  easy  and  familiar; 
but  sooner  or  later  they  all  become  so  thoroughly  a 
part  of  him  that  he  will  do,  offhand  and  without  think- 
ing of  it,  what  at  first  seemed  to  him  to  require  great 
courage. 

Can  we  say  that  this  final  condition  is  morally  in- 
ferior to  the  preceding,  on  the  ground  that  where  there 
is  no  effort  there  can  be  no  merit?  Such  a  judgment 
would  betray  a  very  rudimentary  conception  of  merit, 
a  survival  unchanged  from  the  recollections  of  infancy, 
when  the  hesitating  will  to  do  right  is  stimulated  by 
maternal  ruses.  The  end  of  education  is  good  con- 
duct. And  good  conduct  does  not  consist  of  one  act, 
but  in  a  series  of  acts ;  it  is  not  a  fortunate  accident, 
but  a  permanent  condition;  not  the  deeds  of  a  day, 
but  of  every  day.  Do  we  seek  in  education  a  fortunate 
accident  or  a  permanent  equilibrium.'^  We  are  forced 
to  begin  by  obtaining  this  equilibrium  once  for  all  at  a 
great  price,  but  the  important  thing  is  to  give  it  per- 
manence. We  must  at  all  cost  remove  from  it  the 
character  of  chance,  which  gives  interest  to  the  moral 
drama  as  long  as  the  issue  is  in  doubt.  When  this  is 
no  longer  the  case,  then  has  victory  come  and  there, 
is  no  more  combat.  Interest  and  effort  no  longer 
concentrate  in  one  act,  but  are  spread  over  the  whole 
life,  and  the  whole  of  life  should  be  our  real  end. 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  147 

Doubtless  the  end  supposes  the  means,  but  how  much 
it  surpasses  them !  The  habit  of  virtue  in  which  the 
isolated  acts  of  virtue  become  consolidated  is  the  end 
we  aim  at.  Morality  without  effort  is  doubtless  virtue, 
precisely  because  it  raises  us  to  a  point  where  we  are  no 
longer  tempted  to  admire  ourselves  for  having  merely 
done  our  duty.  We  are  nearer  the  ultimate  truth  of 
things  and  the  just  evaluation  of  real  merit  and  the 
real  dignity  of  humanity  when  we  can  say  in  all  sin- 
cerity after  a  good  action,  "What  I  have  done  is  the 
most  natural  thing  in  the  world,"  than  when  we  say 
involuntarily,""!  have  just  done  a  very  fine  thing." 
The  proof  of  this  position  is  that  if  I  were  to  con- 
gratulate one  of  my  hearers  for  returning  an  over- 
payment in  change  at  a  shop  he  would  feel  very  much 
injured  and  could  never  pardon  me  for  doubting  him. 

The  three  great  theories  of  moral  education  may  be 
reconciled  as  follows:  The  optimistic  theory  of 
Rousseau,  which  teaches  us  to  believe  in  the  natural 
goodness  of  man  and  seems  to  propose  to  recover  the 
lost  paradise  of  primitive  simplicity  —  the  state  of 
nature  —  we  accept  by  confining  it  to  the  first  of  our 
three  periods,  the  earliest  stage  of  education.  The 
stoic  and  Kantian  theory,  which  appeals  to  effort  and 
liberty,  this  we  accept  for  our  second  stage,  which  is 
the  longest  and  most  laborious  of  all,  and  we  add  to  it, 
besides  moral  effort  properly  so  called,  all  the  other 
forms  of  physiological  and  psychological  effort  and  the 
different  varieties  of  intellectual  effort.  Finally,  there 
is  the  Christian  theory,  which  lays  so  much  stress  upon 
the  effect  of  habit,  of  accepted  authority,  of  established 


148    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

practices,  and  of  the  external  influences  which  con- 
tribute ceaselessly  and  gently  to  fashion  our  will; 
this  we  accept  also,  but  only  where  its  domain  seems 
legitimate  and  without  risk,  namely,  in  our  third  stage 
of  education,  in  which  we  have  only  to  maintain  through 
exercise  a  condition  of  training  already  duly  established. 
It  should  be  added  that  as  these  three  states  or  con- 
ditions exist  simultaneously  in  us,  the  three  methods 
of  education  should  also  be  exercised  simultaneously 
within  the  limits  of  the  respective  domains  which  we 
have  assigned  to  them. 

Now  to  conclude,  can  we  draw  any  general  rules  for 
the  pedagogics  of  the  will  from  our  observations  on 
the  various  chapters  we  have  skimmed  over?  We 
can,  and  the  following  is  a  summary  of  such  rules :    ~^ 

(1)  Psychology  teaches  us  that  the  will  is  not  a 
special  faculty  limited  to  a  certain  domain  and  exercis- 
ing itself  in  certain  determinate  forms,  but  it  is  spiritual 
force  in  all  its  plenitude ;  that  is  to  say,  in  its  variety 
as  well  as  unity,  in  the  different  phases  of  its  develop- 
ment, from  the  rudimentary  spontaneity  of  instinct 
up  to  full  and  clear  self-possession  through  a  conscious 
activity  which  is  free  and  guided  by  reason.  From 
this  doctrine  pedagogy  concludes  that  there  is  no  special 
education  of  the  will.  All  education  is  an  education 
of  the  will  or  is  nothing  at  all.  The  will  is  formed 
while  learning  to  think,  to  feel,  and  to  act.  To  will 
is  nothing  else  than  to  direct  and  lead  the  mind.  To 
direct  the  intellect  is  not  merely  an  affair  of  logic,  but 
is  a  most  complex  act  involving,  even  though  we  are 
unconscious   of   it,   innumerable   elements,    affective. 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  149 

representative,  and  active.  To  learn  to  will  is  to 
learn  to  think  and  look,  to  act  and  react,  to  control 
for  a  definite  purpose  an  immense  apparatus  whose 
mechanism  is  unknown  to  us,  but  whose  movements 
we  call  by  the  different  names  of  instincts,  feelings, 
thoughts,  and  volitions.  If  the  will  is  the  unifying 
force  which  subjects  the  passions  to  the  reason,  the 
caprices  of  the  imagination  to  the  laws  of  thought 
and  these  laws  themselves  to  the  supreme  law  of  good- 
ness, the  teacher  does  something  for  the  will  each 
time  he  gives  a  correct  idea,  excites  a  noble  sentiment 
or  prompts  a  good  act  in  the  pupil,  and  each  time  he 
contributes  to  strengthening  a  good  inclination  or 
weakening  a  bad  one,  corrects  an  inexact  thought,  or 
helps  the  pupil  to  a  clearer  view  of  some  reahty  whether 
external  or  internal.  It  is  impossible  to  will  correctly 
without  knowing  what  we  will  and  why.  It  would 
be  either  an  empty  play  of  words,  or,  if  attempted 
seriously,  it  would  be  a  sad  mistake  in  education  to 
undertake  to  cultivate  the  will  separately  by  a  kind 
of  artificial  selection,  and  arouse  its  action  alone  in 
a  pupil  without  regard  to  the  intelligence  and  the 
heart.  We  do  not  determine  to  will  for  no  reason, 
but  we  will  because  we  like  and  in  proportion  as  we 
like.  It  has  often  been  demonstrated  that  the  will 
cannot  be  reduced  to  mere  desire,  but  it  is  neverthe- 
less a  superior  form  of  desire,  which  victoriously  op- 
poses lower  desires ;  it  is  a  desire  founded  in  reason  — 
a  human  desire  which  silences  the  merely  animal  desires. 
We  readily  admit  that  the  will  is  not  merely  the  cold 
and  dry  operation  of  the  understanding;  but  that 
there  can  be  will  without  understanding,  that  we  can 


150    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

will  without  thinking,  and  will  well  without  thinking 
well,  is  what  Descartes  taught  us  to  deny,  and  we  re- 
flected upon  his  profound  remark  that  "from  very 
great  clearness  in  the  understanding  follows  a  very 
strong  inclination  in  the  will." 

(2)  Psychology  reveals  the  will  to  us  under  two  as- 
pects, sometimes  as  a  force  of  impulsion  and  again 
as  an  inhibitory  force,  as  if  there  were  two  functions, 
one  stimulative  and  the  other  repressive,  apparently 
opposed  to  each  other.  One  has  the  ardor  of  desire 
and  the  warmth  of  passion,  while  the  other  is  the  veto 
of  wisdom,  the  resistance  of  reason  to  the  first  impulse 
that  draws  us  on,  and  is  the  result  of  comparison  and 
selection  —  a  calculation  of  consequences. 

Pedagogy  finds  two  corresponding  aspects  in  the 
education  of  the  will.  It  aflBrms  that  it  is  necessary  to 
awaken  the  living  forces  one  after  the  other,  to  arouse 
the  courage  and  provoke  initiative,  thus  producing 
a  happy  and  healthy  excitation,  which  becomes  trans- 
formed into  quick,  lively,  bold,  possibly  rash,  actions, 
but  of  the  kind  of  rashness  which  usually  succeeds  in 
youth.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  the  young  man  must 
learn  to  retire  within  himself  for  examination  and 
reflection,  to  use  all  his  strength  of  mind  to  restrain 
and  contain  himself,  to  be  compos  sui,  a  process  which 
apphes  to  the  feelings,  the  intellect,  and  to  all  forms 
of  activity,  both  of  body  and  mind. 

These  two  types  of  the  education  of  the  will  are 
nearly  the  pedagogical  translation  of  the  double  stoical 
precept  sustine  and  ahstine,  by  extending  it  from  the 
feelings  to  all  the  other  states  of  the  mind.  Sustine 
means :     Have   courage   to   suffer   pain   and   endure 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  151 

fatigue,  and  through  this  endurance  produce  and  set 
in  motion  the  forces  which  are  dormant  in  you.  This 
is  active  and  positive  effort.  Abstine:  This  denotes 
the  other  form  of  courage  which  consists  in  renouncing 
pleasure,  refusing  what  we  wish,  resisting  instinct, 
controUing  our  passions  with  their  sophisms  and  se- 
ductions. This  is  private  and  negative  effort,  and  is 
perhaps  more  difficult  than  the  other,  at  any  rate  it 
is  more  painful  in  being  prolonged,  while  the  first  acts 
at  once,  rapidly  and  decisively. 

(3)  Psychology  shows  us  the  human  will  passing 
through  three  phases  or  stages.  First,  there  is  spon- 
taneous activity,  or  the  first  instinctive  movements 
of  the  new-born  child;  next  is  the  conscious  and  re- 
flective activity,  which  is  manifested  through  effortj 
and  finally  there  is  the  habitual  activity,  which  is  the 
synthesis  of  the  two  preceding. 

A  separate  pedagogical  treatment  corresponds  to 
each  one  of  these  three  psychical  states  which  would 
not  be  suitable  for  the  other  two.  To  the  earliest, 
opening,  psychical  phase  of  development  an  expectant 
policy  is  adapted,  one,  so  to  speak,  of  voluntary  igno- 
rance; a  let-alone  policy  which  permits  the  infant  to 
do  and  speak  as  it  wills  and  expand  its  powers  like  a 
young,  growing  plant  and  as  freely  as  a  bird  sings. 
The  sacred  stream  of  life  is  springing  into  being  and 
we  ought  not  to  confine  it  and  guide  it  in  artificial  rills 
from  the  start.  Primum  vivere,  deinde  philosophari. 
Let  the  child  have  pleasure  in  life,  in  the  life  of  its 
senses,  of  its  intelligence,  and  its  will  to  the  fullest 
extent,  and  do  not  rob  it  of  its  first  and  short  moments 
of  joy  in  living.     The  worst  of  all  educations  is  the 


152    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

solemn,  joyless  education.  Witb  us  in  France,  not- 
withstanding that  so  many  controversies  exist,  there 
is  no  question  on  this  point.  The  maternal  method 
has  been  a  constant  tradition  in  our  pedagogy,  and  has 
been  maintained  by  all  French  women  who  have  writ- 
ten on  pedagogics  from  Mme.  Guizot  and  Mme.  Necker 
de  Saussure  to  Mme.  Pape-Carpantier  and  Mme. 
Kergomard. 

But  soon  comes  the  next  stage,  that  of  conscious 
effort.  It  is  as  long  as  the  preceding  is  brief,  and  is 
the  age  of  ungrateful  toil  for  the  teacher.  And  yet 
what  splendid  contests  take  place  in  this  twilight  of 
transition.  It  is  the  period  when  physical,  intellectual, 
and  moral  education  all  concentrate  their  methods 
of  action.  It  is  the  period  when  the  will  is  forged 
by  the  blows  of  effort.  To  imagine  that  this  period 
is  a  time  for  easy  and  pleasant  work,  for  instruction 
by  play,  by  short  methods  of  study,  by  recreations, 
by  study  without  mental  effort,  for  mere  moralizing 
without  spiritual  struggles,  inculcating  automatic 
morality,  as  it  were,  would  be  to  abjure  the  very  pro- 
gramme of  liberal  education  and  substitute  for  it  some 
nondescript  training.  Therefore  our  pedagogy  will 
never  insist  too  strongly  on  the  gymnastics  of  the  will 
with  which  infancy  and  adolescence  are  usually  filled. 
I  do  not  need  to  recall  to  your  minds  the  fine  passage 
of  Professor  WilHam  James,  the  Harvard  psychologist, 
in  which  he  says :  "There  are  many  ways  of  measur- 
ing the  human  will,  but  the  most  exact  and  surest 
measure  is  expressed  in  the  question.  Of  what  effort 
are  you  capable?"     We  subscribed  to  this  opinion. 

At  the  same  time  we  took  care  not  to  pass  in  silence 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  153 

or  put  in  the  background  the  third  stage,  which  is 
the  crown  of  the  whole  edifice.  This  is  the  stage  of 
habit  acquired  by  conscious  effort.  Thanks  to  effort 
itself,  there  is  no  further  occasion  for  effort.  Habit 
has  engendered  aptitude,  and  it  is  only  necessary  to 
maintain  it.  It  is  only  a  question  now  of  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  feelings,  of  increasing  knowledge,  of  pro- 
tecting our  physical,  mental,  and  moral  energies  from 
the  decay  which  comes  from  want  of  use.  We  must 
take  care  not  to  risk  incurring  the  famous  reproach : 
"You  know  how  to  conquer,  but  you  do  not  know  how 
to  use  victory." 

There  is  only  one  more  remark  to  make  concerning 
the  correct  interpretation  of  the  law  of  the  three  stages. 
It  would  be  an  unfortunate  mistake  to  suppose  that 
the  entire  mind  passes  as  a  whole  from  one  to  the  other 
of  these  three  phases.  We  must,  on  the  contrary,  take 
each  of  our  sensations  separately,  each  of  our  feelings, 
our  intellectual  faculties,  and  our  moral  qualities,  and 
remember  that  all  follow  this  course,  but  unequally, 
each  with  its  own  velocity  and  encountering  in  each 
individual  a  resistance  which  varies  with  that  indi- 
vidual's nature.  Not  only  are  there  differences  be- 
tween man  and  man,  but  in  the  same  individual  there 
are  the  most  astonishing  inequalities  of  development 
between  the  diverse  faculties.  A  man  may  reach  a 
high  degree  of  intellectual  culture  whose  feelings  and 
sentiments  are  still  in  an  embryonic  state  of  develop- 
ment. An  artist  of  genius  may  be  a  child  in  character ; 
a  mathematician  may  be  destitute  of  aesthetic  taste; 
a  man  capable  of  heroic  self-sacrificing  actions  may  yet 
be  unable  to  restrain  his  temper.     One  man  requires 


154    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

strong  effort  to  resist  a  temptation  which  would  not 
disturb  the  equanimity  of  another.  It  has  been  said 
that  there  are  among  our  contemporaries  people  who 
are  still  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  there  are  waste 
places  in  the  depths  of  the  most  cultivated  minds  which 
form  a  singular  anachronism  with  the  rest.  The  much 
spoken  of  harmonious  development  of  the  faculties 
is  only  a  pious  wish,  and  this  is  perhaps  one  of  the 
principal  reasons  why  we  should  be  tolerant,  never 
despair  of  a  person  utterly,  and  never  despise  or  hate. 
To  an  eye  which  could  penetrate  everything  there 
would  be  few  souls  so  saintly  as  not  to  have  some  sinful 
stains,  and  none  so  defiled  as  not  to  have  preserved 
some  spots  of  divine  purity  intact.  If  we  cannot  ex- 
pect grown  men  to  remember  the  things  they  have 
had  no  time  to  hear,  let  us  remember  this  fact  always 
in  our  dealings  with  children,  and  instead  of  being 
vexed  at  the  sudden  lapses,  want  of  equilibrium,  shock- 
ing absence  of  harmony  in  the  little  ones,  let  us  rather 
study  how  far  each  has  progressed  in  the  different  parts 
of  his  development  and  rely  upon  the  more  advanced 
faculties  to  stimulate  the  others. 

(4)  Psychology  does  not  stop  at  demonstrating  to 
us  the  general  fact  of  a  transition  from  instinct  to 
effort  and  from  effort  to  habit.  It  points  out  the  con- 
sequences of  this  transition  and  shows  how  this  rhythm 
is  the  condition  of  progress.  When  we  have  reached 
the  state  of  habit  or  training  in  any  of  the  mental 
faculties,  this  higher  state  becomes  the  point  of  de- 
parture for  a  new  series.  This  is  because  habit  has 
made  us  masters  of  one  part  of  the  domain  to  be  con- 
quered, which  we  can  make  our  base  for  a  further 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  155 

effort.  If  habit  had  not,  as  it  were,  transformed  the 
moving  sands  of  individual  efforts  into  solid  ground 
we  could  never  advance.  We  can  say  of  these  fixations 
and  acquisitions  due  to  exercise  what  economists  say 
of  capital,  that  it  is  accumulated  labor  and  is  for  that 
reason  the  means  of  producing  new  work.  Capital 
is  not  created  simply  for  idle  enjoyment,  but  becomes 
an  implement  and  works  in  its  turn.  In  the  same  way 
the  moral  or  physical  qualities  which  we  have  acquired 
are  not  mere  ornaments  or  a  source  of  satisfaction  to 
us,  but  they  are  means  for  our  doing  more  and  better. 
We  understand  easily  today  what  was  unintelligible 
yesterday  and  can  consequently  apply  our  thoughts 
to  new  objects,  which,  in  their  turn,  seem  as  difficult 
now  as  the  others  did  formerly.  Reason  triumphs 
over  passion,  and  conscience,  having  become  more 
delicate,  no  longer  hesitates  at  junctures  in  which  it 
would  have  been  in  great  straits  some  time  ago.  But 
will  there  ever  be  an  end  to  the  struggle?  No;  the 
strife  is  only  carried  a  little  farther  on.  Conscience 
demands  more  of  us  because  it  now  sees  more  clearly 
and  can  no  longer  content  itself  so  easily.  When  we 
climb  the  long  sloping  terraces  of  a  high  mountain  we 
find  ourselves  higher  at  every  stop,  but  we  also  find 
that  we  must  start  again  and  climb  still  higher  and 
more  vigorously. 

If  this  is  the  way  of  life,  so  ought  it  to  be  of  education. 
We  must  habituate  the  child  to  the  real  view  of  progress, 
the  real  measure  of  duty ;  duty  increases  as  we  mount 
upward  in  life.  Progress  is  not  a  movement  up  to  a 
certain  point,  but  is  movement  itself.  When  move- 
ment ceases,  progress  ceases.     Let  the  school,  then, 


156    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

from  its  first  beginnings,  initiate  the  child  to  the  evo- 
lutive and  progressive  conception  of  moral  life,  and 
not  imprison  him  within  a  narrow  horizon  nor  atrophy 
in  him  the  sense  of  progress  which  is  like  that  of  in- 
finity. Undoubtedly  an  immediate  object,  a  clear 
and  near  limit  which  he  can  attain,  must  be  pointed 
out  to  the  short  sight  of  the  child.  But  it  is  not  nec- 
essary to  make  him  beheve  that  after  attaining  this 
first  plane  all  his  work  will  be  done.  We  must  not 
kill  in  him  the  instinct  for  something  better,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  we  should  habituate  him  to  look  far  ahead, 
to  put  his  object  always  higher,  and  never  let  him  be- 
lieve that  he  will  ever  be  able  to  close  his  account  with 
his  conscience.  And  in  connection  with  this  point  of 
view,  let  us  take  care  that  certain  school  methods, 
which  are  excusable,  useful,  and  even  necessary,  per- 
haps, for  a  time,  do  not  become  dangerous  from  being 
continued  beyond  the  period  of  infancy.  We  must, 
perhaps,  provoke  and  stimulate  effort  in  very  young 
children  by  indirect  means,  by  the  inducement  of  a 
reward  or  the  fear  of  the  punishment  conventionally 
attached  to  such  or  such  an  act.  All  that  should  dis- 
appear with  the  toys  of  infancy.  If  the  pupil  should 
leave  the  school  or  lycee  with  a  puerile  notion  of  a  very 
correct  set  of  moral  account  books,  keeping  a  debit 
and  credit  account  of  so  many  good  marks,  so  many 
prizes  and  occasions  of  honorable  mention,  he  would 
have  a  most  wretchedly  mean  idea  of  his  duty  and 
his  destiny.  The  more  good  one  has  done  the  more 
remains  to  do.  In  this  domain  there  is  no  end  of 
learning. 

And  he  alone  is  a  man  who,  not  making  Hfe  a  mere 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  157 

close  calculation  of  interests  of  longer  or  shorter  range, 
allows  himself  to  be  carried  away  toward  an  ideal  by 
some  inspiration  of  generosity,  without  being  able  to 
say  exactly  what  he  gains  by  it,  who  loves  the  good 
because  it  is  good,  the  beautiful  because  it  is  beautiful, 
the  true  because  it  is  true,  without  first  reckoning 
what  he  will  make  by  it.  To  live  as  a  man  ought,  his 
heart  should  beat  with  all  noble  emotions,  his  thoughts 
turn  to  all  truths;  he  should  devote  his  will  to  all 
noble  causes.  As  to  the  rest  he  should  confide  in  and 
refer  all  final  results  to  One  who  is  mightier  than  we, 
who  has  placed  all  these  instincts  in  our  hearts  and  who 
beyond  doubt  knows  whither  they  will  tend.  And  this 
is  the  spirit  which  the  liberal  education  should  reso- 
lutely oppose  to  the  other. 

(5)  As  to  springs  of  action  and  rewards  and  penalties, 
psychology  has  some  light  which  pedagogics  can  profit 
by.  To  attempt  to  direct  the  will  through  a  single 
one  of  its  powers,  to  exclude  all  incentives  and  prompt- 
ings from  consideration  except  rational  motives  alone, 
is  to  take  a  part  for  the  whole,  or,  in  other  words,  it 
is  to  forget  that  there  are  several  ages  in  the  will,  several 
degrees  of  volition,  that  even  the  highest  degree  of  the 
will  is  not  free  from  all  desire,  all  instinctive  impulse, 
interest,  or  feeling,  or,  in  a  word,  from  all  bond  between 
it  and  the  individual,  and  that  in  consequence  any  one 
of  our  determinations,  which  is  in  appearance  the 
simplest,  is  never  sufficiently  so  to  exclude  an  admixture 
in  different  proportions  of  many  affective,  cognitive, 
and  active  elements.  To  separate  these  may  be  an 
exercise  to  be  recommended  to  lovers  of  psychical 
analysis,  but  it  is  the  act  of  the  teacher  to  associate 


158    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

them  and  make  them  concur  in  an  intimate  and  almost 
indivisible  manner  in  the  work  of  education.  We  can 
never  tell  how  many  rivulets  contribute  to  make  the 
great  river  of  the  moral  life. 

(6)  Finally  —  and  this  last  remark  is  of  importance, 
for  we  must  not  think  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  follow  the  natural  inclinations  —  what  is  the  essen- 
tial and  characteristic  fact  in  the  will  according  to 
psychology  ?  The  answer  is  quite  simple  —  self-con- 
trol. It  consists  in  what  M.  Ribot  very  happily  termed 
a  power  of  coordination  with  subordination.  Coordina- 
tion is  not  possible  unless  there  is  a  supreme  and  single 
principle  of  action  to  which  all  others  are  subordinate ; 
each  domain  of  activity  supposes  a  central  point  to 
which  everything  is  referred,  a  view  of  the  whole  which 
dominates  all  details,  one  end  to  which  everything 
tends.  Now  we  cannot  disengage  this  end,  this  law, 
this  unity,  and  isolate  it  from  the  chaos  of  our  sen- 
sitive life  without  great  difficulty.  It  requires  a  strong 
effort  to  accomplish  this.  And  herein  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  sin  is  nearer  the  truth  than  all  the  super- 
ficial and  indulgent  forms  of  optimism  which,  by  declar- 
ing that  man  is  good,  would  save  the  trouble,  it  would 
seem,  of  trying  to  make  him  good.  He  is  not  born 
good.  Yet  he  can  become  so,  but  only  by  continuous 
effort,  which  is  almost  a  miracle  itself.  The  mass  of 
our  instinctive  and  animal  inclinations  is  by  far  the 
largest  and  heaviest  and  the  most  invasive  of  all.  In 
order  that  reason  should  shed  light  in  this  darkness, 
overcome  the  beast  in  human  nature,  and  make  mind 
prevail  over  matter,  man's  will  must  consent  to  choose, 
contrary  to  the  natural  course  of  things,  what  savants 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  159 

call  the  line  of  greatest  resistance,  and  choose  once, 
a  hundred  times,  and  always,  the  most  difficult  course 
of  action.  It  has  been  said  that  the  simplest  criterion 
of  morality  is  this:  When  hesitating  between  two 
courses,  choose  that  which  costs  you  the  most  sacri- 
fice. This  is  the  role  of  the  will  acting  under  the  reason, 
that  is  to  say,  the  action  of  the  will  at  its  highest  power. 
Thus  acting,  the  will  converts  a  mere  individual  into 
a  real  person.  Some  one  has  said  that  only  one  man 
in  a  thousand  is  a  person.  And  it  is  the  peculiar 
province  of  the  will  to  establish  this  self-mastery,  both 
of  mind  and  body,  and  in  the  mind  itself  the  relative 
mastery  of  emotion  by  thought  and  of  thought  by  ac- 
tion—  relative  mastery,  we  say,  and  progressive,  too, 
for  our  entire  life  is  passed  in  winning  from  passion,  foot 
by  foot,  a  little  ground  for  reason,  little  triumphs  of 
duty  over  interest,  and  of  free  will  over  blind  appetite. 
This  psychological  definition  inspires,  it  will  be  seen, 
an  entirely  new  pedagogy.  Of  course  the  idea  of 
obedience,  the  pivot  of  the  old  education,  is  not  abol- 
ished, but  except  in  infancy,  when  ideas  cannot  be 
seized  unless  visibly  presented  by  living  beings,  what 
should  be  taught  is  the  obedience  of  the  will  to  its  own 
law  —  moral  autonomy.  But  we  ought  to  have  the 
courage  to  tell  even  children  themselves  the  truth 
while  teaching  them  self-control,  which  at  first  is  mani- 
fested by  obedience.  Then  they  will  come  to  obey, 
little  by  little,  in  the  same  way  and  for  the  same  rea- 
sons that  we  do.  They  will  learn  to  obey  not  force  or 
custom,  or  the  uncomprehended  and  inexplicable  order 
of  external  authority,  but  will  bend  their  will,  as  we 
do  ours,  before  the  universal  will,  which  announces 


160    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

itself,  under  various  names  of  nearly  the  same  mean- 
ing, as  reason,  duty,  truth,  or  justice. 

In  finishing  this  summary  —  I  must  beg  your  pardon, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  having  made  it  so  long  and 
yet  so  incomplete  —  I  wish  to  ask  you  one  question : 
Do  you  think  that  the  doctrines  we  have  been  study- 
ing together  contain  the  elements  of  an  education  of 
the  will  suited  to  our  time  and  country  ?  For  my  own 
part  I  thoroughly  believe  so,  and  I  beheve  further  that 
this  pedagogy,  adhering  to  those  doctrines  in  broad 
lines,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  French  State  education, 
from  the  primary  school  to  the  lycees  and  the  uni- 
versity faculties.  Others  have  extolled  methods  of 
education  which  are  evidently  imposed  by  distrust  of 
human  nature ;  they  have  required  that  the  child,  the 
woman,  and  even  the  man  should  be  intrusted  to  them 
as  needing  tutelage.  They  have  promised  to  exercise 
this  tutelage  for  the  good  of  humanity,  and  they  think 
they  are  rendering  a  service  to  human  nature  by  pro- 
tecting itself  against  itself,  by  constituting  themselves, 
especially  through  education,  the  intermediaries  be- 
tween God  and  man  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  We 
do  not  accept  this  part  of  perpetual  minor  for  mankind. 
We  wish  to  place  man  as  soon  as  possible  in  possession 
of  his  own  will,  his  own  reason,  and  his  own  conscience. 
We  do  not  ignore  the  difficulties  or  dangers  of  the  task. 
But  no  danger  is  so  great  as  to  surrender  one's  own 
self,  and  to  think  and  will  by  proxy. 

In  accepting  the  mighty  burden  of  liberty  for  our- 
selves and  our  pupils,  we  believe  that  we  are  perform- 
ing not  only  a  moral  and  philosophical  work,  but  one 


FERDINAND  BUISSON  161 

profoundly  religious  as  well.  As  the  thinker  whom 
we  have  so  often  met  in  this  course,  M.  Payot,  used  to 
say :  "To  have  respect  for  human  nature  in  ourselves 
and  others  is  to  realize  in  ourselves  and  others  the 
Kingdom  of  God."  We  pity  those  who,  being  able 
to  see  God  only  through  denominational  forms  and 
traditional  ceremonies,  do  not  see  Him  in  our  doctrines, 
and  do  not  perceive  that  He  is  nowhere  more  present 
and  more  profoundly  active  than  in  that  humble 
sanctuary  of  education  which  they  call  the  school  with- 
out God.  We  commiserate  them  for  not  perceiving 
that  to  bring  up  children  in  the  constant,  careful  respect 
for  their  own  nature,  and  a  constant  effort  to  rise 
toward  the  good,  is  to  bring  them  up  in  the  very  at- 
mosphere of  the  Divine,  to  make  them  breathe  the 
gospel  air  and  penetrate  them  with  God.  Not,  in- 
deed, with  the  God  of  images  and  formulas,  but  God 
in  spirit  and  in  truth.  We  have,  at  any  rate,  the  ad- 
vantage over  our  opponents  that  we  take  from  their 
creed  whatever  of  the  Divine  it  contains  and  respect 
it  in  the  highest  degree,  while  they  refuse  to  do  the 
same  with  ours. 

In  all  times  the  reigning  religions  have  spoken  of 
atheism  as  the  religion  of  the  future.  Socrates  and 
Jesus  Christ  were  charged  with  no  other  crime  than 
atheism.  Let  us  allow  ourselves  to  be  called  atheists, 
then,  provided  that  our  education,  while  awakening 
the  sacred  spark  in  the  souls  of  our  children,  continues 
to  make  them  adore  the  things  of  God  instead  of  the 
word  alone,  and  to  put  each  one  of  them  all  the  days 
of  his  life,  face  to  face,  in  the  secret  places  of  his  heart 
and  conscience,  in  living  contact  with  the  Divine. 


E.  ANTHOINE 

E.  Anthoine  (  -1886),  lycee  teacher  and  academy  inspector 
at  Lille,  subsequently  general  inspector  of  ^primary  instruction. 
His  notes  were  published  under  the  title  A  travers  nos  icoles, 
souvenirs  posthumes,  1887.  "These  extracts,"  says  Jules  Lemaltre 
in  his  preface,  "are  charming  in  a  kind  of  composition  in  which 
charm  is  not  indispensable  and  where  we  are  not  accustomed  to 
looking  for  it."  Some  of  them  are  models  of  the  art  of  teaching 
in  its  most  difficult  phases. 

UP  AND  DOWN  THROUGH  OUR  SCHOOLS » 

You  have  been  told,  Mademoiselle,  that  your  class 
was  cold,  lifeless,  and  that  you  should  throw  some 
animation  into  it.  You  have  been  advised  to  ask 
questions,  but  just  now  you  are  asking  too  many  ques- 
tions. Let  me  appeal  to  your  experience.  A  little 
while  ago  you  asked  Marie  something,  and  as  she  was 
slow  in  answering  you  passed  on  to  Berthe,  then  to 
Jeanne.  As  Jeanne  did  not  answer  precisely  as  you 
wished,  you  asked  somebody  else,  and  again  somebody 
else,  and  you  finished  by  answering  the  question  your- 
self. Either  the  question  was  too  hard,  beyond  what 
your  pupils  should  be  expected  to  know  (in  which  case 
it  would  have  been  better  not  to  ask  it)  or  else  you 
should  have  endeavored  to  get  an  answer  from  the  first 
pupil  you  called  upon.  In  any  case  you  should  have 
given  her  another  chance ;  yet  you  forgot  her  so  com- 
pletely that  she  remained  standing  the  whole  time. 
Finally  I  took  pity  on  her,  and  signaled  to  her  to  sit 
down.  Do  not  let  the  question  flit  about  ceaselessly 
in  every  direction ;  let  it  alight ;  let  it  fix  itself  some- 
where for  a  time.     There,  for  instance,  is  a  slow,  lazy 

*  Notes  of  an  inspector,  from  Revue  pSdagogique,  May  15,  1884. 
162 


E.  ANTHOINE  168 

mind.  Do  not  abandon  it  to  its  apathy ;  coax  it,  urge 
it  on,  ply  it  with  questions,  force  it  to  put  forth  some 
effort.  Interest  the  whole  class  in  this  effort  if  you 
can;  make  the  whole  class  take  part;  but  always  re- 
turn to  the  original  person.  The  point  is  to  know  if 
it  is  he  who  will  be  worsted  or  you.  For  you  will  be 
the  one  worsted  if  you  do  not  succeed  in  giving  him  a 
clear  notion  of  what  you  want  and  of  what  you  want 
to  teach  him. 


There  are  many  kinds  of  questions.  Listen  to  the 
teacher  givifig  an  object  lesson  to  a  class  of  little  ones. 
She  stops  her  exposition,  addresses  a  pupil,  and  asks 
him  something  he  knows,  something  that  she  is  per- 
fectly sure  he  knows.  This  is  a  simple  form  of  ques- 
tion. It  is  merely  a  manner  of  breaking  into  her  talk, 
of  throwing  variety  into  it,  of  allowing  the  child  to 
speak  for  a  moment,  in  order  to  take  him  out  of  the 
passive  role  which  does  not  suit  his  lively  nature  for 
any  length  of  time. 

With  older  pupils  there  is  the  sudden,  brusque  ques- 
tion in  the  course  of  the  lesson,  which  is  a  means  of  re- 
stimulating  their  minds,  a  sort  of  recall  of  the  atten- 
tion, a  warning  thrown  out  to  the  pupil  that  he  should 
be  constantly  on  the  alert  because  he  is  always  liable  to 
be  called  upon. 

After  the  lesson  there  is  the  question  by  which  we 
seek  to  assure  ourselves  that  we  have  been  heard,  or 
better  yet,  that  we  have  been  understood.  "Have  I 
been  clear  enough?"  we  anxiously  ask  ourselves. 
"Have  I  surely  said  what  I  wanted  to  say  just  as  I 
wanted  to  say  it  ?"     Whoever  has  not  felt  this  scrupu- 


164    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

lousness,  this  distrust  of  himself,  far  more  than  of  his 
pupils,  is  not  a  good  teacher.  What  is  more,  he  has 
no  chance  of  becoming  one. 

Then  there  is  the  question  which,  after  the  lesson 
has  been  learned,  replaces  the  recitation  today  in  many 
of  our  good  schools.  How  comfortable  the  recitation 
was  for  the  old-fashioned  school  teacher !  How  will- 
ingly he  prolonged  it !  How  gratefully  he  rested 
through  it !  He  had  only  to  follow  absent-mindedly 
with  one  eye,  or  rather  with  one  ear,  a  well-known 
text,  and  from  time  to  time  to  say,  or  more  simply, 
without  even  speaking,  to  indicate  by  a  sign,  "Next !" 
Asking  questions  is  not  so  simple  a  matter.  The 
teacher  is  kept  constantly  on  the  alert  and  in  action. 
He  must  choose  his  question,  and  weigh  its  terms.  He 
must  listen  to  the  answer  and  hold  himself  always 
ready  to  correct  it  or  preferably  to  see  that  it  is  cor- 
rected. But  how  much  greater  are  the  interest  and 
the  advantages !  The  question  addresses  itself  to  the 
pupil's  intelligence  more  than  to  his  memory ;  it  forces 
him  to  think,  to  express  his  thought;  it  calls  his  at- 
tention to  the  important  points  and  fixes  it  upon  them, 
while  relegating  whatever  is  secondary  to  the  back- 
ground. 

But  thus  far  there  has  been  no  mention  of  the  heu- 
ristic question,  whose  object  is  to  make  the  pupil  dis- 
cover the  truth  —  the  Socratic  question,  you  may  call 
it.  To  be  quite  frank,  it  seems  to  me  that  this  term 
has  been  somewhat  abused  lately.  I  wonder  if  many 
of  those  who  use  it  realize  exactly  what  it  means. 
The  subjects  to  which  Socrates  applied  his  method 


E.  ANTHOINE  166 

scarcely  resemble  the  majority  of  those  we  treat  in 
our  schools  today.  Besides,  he  put  into  this  method 
something  so  unique,  so  personal,  that  it  becomes 
singularly  difficult  to  imitate.  We  can  require  learning 
and  discernment  of  our  teachers,  but  we  can  scarcely 
require  wit ;  that  would  be  asking  too  much.  Socratic 
questioning,  to  be  conducted  properly,  calls  for  a  great 
deal  of  wit  of  a  certain  kind,  very  subtle,  very  flexible, 
very  deep,  and  very  shrewd.  I  may  add  that  even 
were  we  capable  of  adapting  it  to  our  purposes,  we 
should  have  to  look  twice  before  introducing  it  into  the 
schools.  Those  Greeks  were  great  loiterers.  You 
met  them  everywhere,  in  the  streets  and  public  gardens, 
chatting,  discussing,  and  quibbling.  They  had  ample 
time,  for  slaves  did  their  housework  and  much  of  their 
other  work.  As  for  us,  we  are  always  hurried,  es- 
pecially those  of  us  who  attend  the  primary  school. 
There  life  is  laborious,  exacting,  breathless,  waiting 
for  these  children,  the  life  which  is  going  to  take  them 
away  from  school  as  soon  as  they  are  twelve  or  thir- 
teen. Often  it  takes  them  before,  for  their  parents 
need  them  and  their  help  to  maintain  the  rude  fight 
for  existence.  They  have  to  learn  a  great  deal  in  a 
short  time.  Instead  of  making  them  hunt  for  truth 
by  long  detours,  it  is  better  to  give  it  to  them,  pro- 
vided always  that  you  are  positive  they  understand  it 
well  enough  to  remember  it. 

Nevertheless,  you  can  draw  inspiration  from  Socrates 
at  your  discretion,  if  you  wish,  some  Thursday  when 
you  take  your  best  pupils  out  for  a  long  walk.  They 
will  cluster  around  you,  seated  or  half -seated  on  the 
grass  near  the  brook,  or  under  the  big  tree  that  shelters 


166    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

them  from  the  smi's  rays,  waiting  until  they  must  re- 
turn to  the  village  which  lies  on  the  horizon.  Chat 
with  them  in  the  manner  of  the  incomparable  ancient, 
or  preferably  let  them  talk  first  and  then  direct  their 
thought  with  a  quiet  suggestion.  Show  them  how 
easy  it  is  for  the  mind  to  go  astray.  Teach  them  to 
watch  themselves,  to  distrust  the  impulses  of  discus- 
sion, the  seduction  of  logic  pushed  to  excess,  and  to 
avoid  hasty  conclusions  and  arrogant  statements. 
Teach  them  to  listen  to  those  who  do  not  think  as  they 
do,  to  try  even  to  enter  into  their  thought,  to  be  truly 
intelligent,  neither  intolerant  nor  dogmatic.  Then,  so 
far  as  it  depends  upon  you,  you  will  have  "Socratized." 


EDMOND  BLANGUERNON 

Edmond  Blanguernon  (  ),  academy  inspector  of  the 

Haute  Marne  and  author  of  several  pedagogical  works.  The 
following  pages  from  the  best  known  of  these,  Pour  Vicole  vivante 
("The  Vitalized  School"),  show  the  spirit  of  the  classroom. 


ATTRACTIVE  PROBLEMS 

I  HAVE  just  found  a  nook  of  unexpected  freshness  and 
poetry  in  a  country  schoolhouse. 

It  is  a  corner  where  ten  babies  of  primer  grade,  Httle 
boys  and  girls  five  or  six  years  old,  have  come  together 
for  an  arithmetic  lesson.  The  school  has  but  one 
teacher.  He  has  just  assigned  some  work  to  his  ele- 
mentary and  intermediate  classes  and  is  sitting  among 
his  babies.  They  are  absorbed  in  playing  with  the 
sticks  which  they  use  as  counters  to  read,  add,  and 
subtract  the  numbers  which  have  been  written  on  the 
blackboard  in  advance.  The  pens  of  the  older  pupils 
are  scratching  on  the  paper.  With  my  elbows  on  the 
teacher's  desk  I  look  out  over  the  heads  of  the  ele- 
mentary class  through  the  shining  window.  I  see  a 
hill  covered  with  autumn  woods,  their  violet  and  red 
pierced  here  and  there  by  the  silvery  trunk  of  a  birch 
tree.  At  the  base  of  this  hill  a  cool  river  flows  between 
narrow  banks. 

I  do  not  know  whether  the  view  from  the  window  in- 
spires the  teacher  as  well,  but  he  suddenly  begins  to 
invent  interesting,  amusing,  and  lively  problems  that 
have  the  charm  of  reality  or  of  a  children's  tale,  and 
that  reminds  me  of  the  Japanese  poetry  which  requires 
only  a  couple  of  lines  to  paint  a  picture  and  thrill  the 
reader. 

167 


168    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

"Andre's  mamma"  (Andre  smiles  and  his  comrades 
look  at  him)  "Andre's  mamma  makes  some  cheeses. 
She  makes  ten  of  them."  The  eyes  seem  to  say: 
"That  is  too  many."  "  Somebody  from  B  ..."  (the 
next  village)  "comes  and  buys  four.  How  many  are 
left?"  The  answer  is  there,  triumphant.  Of  course, 
it  is  fun  to  count  mentally  the  good  cheeses  that 
Andre's  mamma  makes,  for  they  are  famous  through- 
out all  the  countryside. 

At  the  same  time  the  teacher  recalls  their  fickle  at- 
tention:  "There  were  six  beautiful  pigeons  on  the 
roof."  He  said  this  as  though  he  were  admiring  the 
beautiful  pigeons,  with  their  changeable  necks  and 
flapping  wings.  He  stops  a  minute.  Ten  pairs  of 
eyes  are  watching  and  laughing.  "Somebody  made 
a  noise."  "Oh!"  exclaim  the  children.  "Three  flew 
away.  How  many  are  left.?"  Is  not  this  more  than 
mental  arithmetic?  Does  it  not  stimulate  all  the 
imaginative  faculties  of  these  little  ones  in  the  simple 
manner  suitable  to  their  age  ? 

Likewise  I  note  verbatim  this  third  —  shall  I  say 
problem?  "In  a  nest,  a  pretty  warbler's  nest,  there 
were  five  little  ones."  The  imperfect  tense  announces 
the  approaching  drama,  and  the  raised  brows  show  that 
the  children  are  waiting  for  it.  "A  horrid  hunter  took 
four  of  them.  How  many  are  left?"  When  the 
answer  is  found,  the  teacher  adds  :  "What  do  you  think 
of  that  horrid  hunter?"  The  indignant  children  can- 
not answer  quickly  enough:  "He  is  wicked.  He's  a 
thief." 

There  it  is,  the  moral  lesson,  or  rather  the  moral  sug- 
gestion, sincere,  direct,  encountered  by  chance,  which 


EDMOND  BLANGUERJSrON  169 

the  program  advises  us  in  the  primer  grade  to  "com- 
bine with  all  the  exercises  of  the  class."  All  this  was 
readily,  easily,  and  unpretentiously  done,  and  required 
no  longer  than  was  necessary  to  jot  down  these  notes. 

I  grasped  the  hand  of  the  unconscious  poet,  of  this 
true  teacher  who  loves  life  and  who  demonstrates  it  in 
its  truth,  beauty,  and  goodness. 


What  do  you  imagine  I  saw  in  a  kindergarten  the 
other  day  —  yes,  in  a  kindergarten  directed  by  a 
woman,  who,  one  would  think,  should  have  the  mother 
instinct  and  know  how  to  laugh  and  tell  stories?  I 
saw  a  fine  methodical  program  of  moral  teaching 
posted  up,  with  this  as  one  of  the  lesson  titles  (Yes, 
I  can  read) :  "Distinction  between  the  soul  and  the 
body." 

A  SOUND  BODY 

I  AM  watching  the  girls  in  the  intermediate  class  write. 
What  a  pretty  sight  these  rows  of  children  make,  the 
bent  heads,  the  hair  waving  over  slender  necks,  with 
here  and  there  the  cheerful  note  of  a  ribbon ! 

No,  rather  how  pathetic  they  are,  these  rows  of  little 
girls  writing !  Their  chests  are  cramped,  narrowed 
between  the  left  elbow  brought  forward  upon  the  desk 
and  the  right  elbow  glued  to  the  body.  Seen  from 
behind,  these  thin  little  bodies  are  especially  distress- 
ing. How  badly  they  are  seated,  drooping  over  on 
the  left  side,  with  knees  crossed  or  feet  folded  back 
under  the  bench !  Between  the  raised  shoulder  and 
the  bad  position  the  spine  is  bent  to  one  side. 

Appeal  to  the  coquetry  of  your  pupils:    "You  cer- 


170    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

tainly  will  look  well  in  a  few  years,  with  a  round  back 
or  a  crooked  shoulder!"  They  will  smile,  but  they 
will  remember.  Appeal  to  their  self-interest.  I  do 
not  know  whether  they  exactly  believed  me,  but  their 
apprehension  was  not  feigned  (You  saw  it,  Madame) 
when  I  announced  that  I  would  give  instructions  to 
have  the  primary  inspector  note  their  position  during 
the  writing  test,  and  that  this  position  should  count 
for  as  much  as  the  written  page. 

Make  use  of  moral  suggestion.  Would  it  not  be 
possible  for  the  teacher  to  tell  her  little  girls  in  the 
simple,  serious  way  that  is  necessary  that  they  will  be 
mothers  later  on,  and  that  they  have  duties  toward 
the  body  that  must  bear  the  race?  If  false  modesty 
on  the  part  of  the  parents  still  stands  in  the  way  (I  do 
not  expect  you  to  shock  them),  I  know  what  troubles 
threaten  you  at  times;  but  once  again  I  bid  you  to 
enjoin  unceasingly,  with  the  solicitude  that  should 
characterize  every  teacher,  the  practices  that  preserve 
the  body  of  the  child.  The  "vitaHzed  school"  should 
not  turn  out  invalids.  These  children  are  at  the  grow- 
ing age,  and  they  are  the  future  mothers,  mothers  of 
the  people,  who  will  need  strong  constitutions. 

Just  now  I  mentioned  the  word  "gymnastics."  I 
should  put  the  subject  at  the  close  of  a  session  filled 
with  written  exercises.  However  great  the  attention 
of  the  teacher,  in  a  group  where  his  attention  is  di- 
vided, he  cannot  prevent  the  pupils  from  assuming  in- 
jurious positions,  at  least  now  and  then.  Is  it  not 
advisable,  then,  to  counteract  these  by  gymnastics, 
simple  movements  of  the  head,  limbs,  and  arms,  ex- 
ercises for  stretching  the  spine  ? 


EDMOND  BLANGUEKNON  171 

The  other  day  I  was  in  an  important  school  which 
had  an  excellent  principal  and  devoted  assistants. 
But  when  I  asked  for  information:  "Gymnastics?" 
"No,  Monsieur  Tlnspecteur,"  replied  the  principal. 
"Gymnastics?"  The  assistants  hesitated.  Still  let 
us  be  just,  one  of  them  does  give  her  little  girls  some 
arm  movements  which  seem  to  amuse  them  very 
much.  I  should  prefer,  however,  not  awkward  or 
difficult  movements,  but  graceful  movements  that 
are  more  interesting  as  exercises. 

After  all,  this  would  not  be  extravagant.  Do  you 
not  feel  the'^air  grow  heavy  in  a  room  where  perhaps 
not  all  the  children  have  the  most  immaculate  under- 
wear? "Oh  !  yes,  indeed,  Monsieur  ITnspecteur,"  re- 
plied the  teacher.  "We  are  often  obliged  to  open  the 
casements."  "Then  your  little  girls  have  been  slowly 
poisoning  themselves  for  an  hour  and  a  quarter.  Their 
little  lungs  are  breathing  infected  air.  Let  us  go  out 
into  the  yard  and  have  them  go  through  a  few  breath- 
ing exercises.  It  would  be  heresy  to  do  it  in  this  close 
room."  .  .  .  "No,  that  does  not  count  as  recreation. 
It  is  the  most  beneficial  period  in  your  whole  school 
day.  Afterwards  allow  them  to  play  freely  for  the 
rest  of  the  recreation  time." 

In  another  place,  in  the  country  this  time,  I  am  chat- 
ting with  the  schoolmistress  during  recreation.  I  have 
just  seen  some  delicate  faces,  with  blue  circles  under 
the  eyes.  "Do  you  know  what  your  little  girls  eat?" 
The  teacher  is  not  very  definite,  but  she  tells  me  that 
in  this  farming  village  the  little  girls  are  usually  obliged 
to  prepare  the  family  meal  on  their  return  from  school. 
"That  is  one  more  reason,  Madame,  for  giving  them 


172    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

some  advice  on  alimentary  hygiene  and  teaching  them 
a  few  simple  receipts  which  will  benefit  them  first  of 
all.  Some  day  shall  I  not  see  a  primary  school  for  girls 
where  they  have  to  set  the  table  and  prepare  a  real 
soup?" 

You  smile,  but  nevertheless  this  is  more  important 
than  you  think.  In  order  that  the  man,  the  husband, 
the  father  come  home  after  his  work  and  stay  there, 
is  it  not  necessary  that  the  home  should  attract  and 
hold  him.?  And  will  you  deny  that  a  bright,  clean 
house  with  appetizing  and  healthful  food  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  spiritual  well-being  of  the  family 
among  these  people?  I  might  almost  say  that  these 
physical  factors  are  responsible  for  that  well-being. 
Let  us,  therefore,  teach  our  little  girls  the  most  useful 
of  all  science  —  domestic  science. 

How  long,  pray,  shall  we  retain  our  curious  disdain 
for  everything  concerning  physical  culture?  Oh,  I 
know  we  are  becoming  *' athletic,"  but  our  athletics 
have  not  filtered  down  to  our  lower  strata.  Physical 
training,  however,  affects  the  training  of  the  mind. 
There  is  not  a  candidate  for  the  permanent  certificate 
who  does  not  know  Latin  proverbs  by  heart  and  who 
cannot  quote  consistently  from  Spencer's  aphorisms; 
but  such  acquired  intelligence  is  not  enough.  In 
education  we  are  still  dupes  of  the  obvious  dignity  of 
words.  Speak  of  morality,  and  everybody  gives  heed, 
but  mention  hygiene,  gymnastics,  domestic  science, 
and  there  is  the  bugbear  of  the  certificate.  We  shall 
doubtless  give  heed  to  these  things  only  when  they 
take  their  proper  place  in  the  oflficial  program  as  a 
part  of  moral  training. 


EDMOND  BLANGUERNON  17S 

A  MORNING  PRAYER 

It  is  morning,  a  clear,  brisk,  breezy  morning.  The 
green  of  the  young  wheat  shimmers  as  httle  puffs  of 
wind  dive  into  it.  The  fresh  leaves  stand  out  against 
the  soft  blue  background. 

In  the  schoolhouse,  the  little  girls  from  the  village 
are  scarcely  settled  at  their  desks.  The  freshness  and 
vitality  of  the  new  day  are  on  their  cheeks  and  in  their 
eyes.  Like  the  sprouting  wheat  and  the  budding  tree, 
they,  too,  unconsciously  await  the  sun  and  wind  of  the 
fostering  springtime. 

"What  are  you  going  to  give  these  fresh  young 
minds  this  morning.  Mademoiselle.'^" 

Alas  !  the  schedule  calls  for  a  "politeness"  lesson  on 
behavior  at  table.  First,  when  should  we  sit  down? 
One  little  girl  answers,  "When  we  are  hungry."  This 
reply,  however  pleasing  in  its  thoughtless  and  whim- 
sical spontaneity,  coming  perhaps  from  some  little  girl 
of  careless  parents,  needs  to  be  corrected  by  a  skillful 
teacher.  How  difficult  is  this  fine  art  of  accepting  and 
rendering  children's  correct  answers  productive!  An- 
other says,  "When  mother  calls  you."  I  consider  this 
answer  very  good,  for  it  indicates  prompt  and  natural 
obedience  to  a  mother's  voice.  But  I  am  to  be  over- 
ruled, for  the  teacher  insists  upon  her  own  plan,  upon 
her  own  answers.  What  she  wanted  was,  "One  goes 
to  the  table  at  noon,"  etc.  I  shall  spare  you  the  rest. 
How  cold  and  colorless  this  is,  this  "politeness"  les- 
son, to  begin,  to  launch  a  child's  day ! 

I  scan  the  teacher's  notes.  It  certainly  is  a  question 
of  "politeness."    Just  what  is  politeness?    How  one 


174    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

should  sit  down,  or  the  position  of  the  knees  ?  There 
is  a  sermon-like  regularity  in  the  outline,  whose  points 
are  carefully  and  methodically  subdivided.  I  am  not 
in  the  least  hostile  to  the  teaching  of  decorum ;  but  can 
it  not  be  done  easily  by  paying  attention  to  correct 
posture  during  class?  The  idea  of  devoting  to  any- 
thing of  the  sort  twenty  whole  minutes,  a  half-hour, 
the  first  and  the  brightest  half -hour  of  the  day ! 

I  cannot  help  noting  other  mistakes.  Coming  into 
a  roomful  of  boys  at  five  minutes  past  eight,  hoping  to 
hear  a  lesson  conducted  by  the  teacher  (an  excellent 
and  discerning  teacher,  moreover),  I  find  a  professor 
of  silence,  superintending  a  written  exercise.  I  am 
surprised  and  ask  the  reason.  The  whole  class,  it 
seems,  is  making  a  clean  copy  of  the  examples  they 
worked  at  home  last  night.  I  am  not  discussing  the 
value  of  the  exercise,  but  why,  pray,  should  one  devote 
the  first  twenty  minutes  of  the  day  to  this  mechanical 
work  of  copying.?  No,  no,  take  my  advice.  These 
early  mornings  are  too  precious  to  be  lost  or  employed 
aimlessly. 

"There  shall  be  each  day,"  says  the  decree  of  Jan- 
uary 18,  1887,  concerning  the  course  of  study,  "a  les- 
son in  the  form  of  a  familiar  talk,  or  an  appropriate 
reading  devoted  to  moral  instruction."  Let  this  lesson 
begin  the  day.  But  let  the  tone  of  voice,  the  look  in 
the  eyes,  the  communion  between  teacher  and  pupils, 
make  it  very  much  more  than  a  lesson ;  let  it  be  a  moral 
stimulant !  Impress  it  upon  their  minds,  but  do  not 
feel  obliged  to  close  with  a  formal  "recapitulation." 
What  is  worth  while  is  the  simplicity  and  sincerity  that 
awaken  the  soul,  the  gift  of  an  honest  mind  to  children. 


EDMOND  BLANGUERNON  175 

Thus  the  school  expresses  itself  in  no  mechanical  or 
formal  manner,  but  manifests  a  glowing  profession  of 
faith  in  the  idealism  of  willing  and  joyous  activity.  In 
this  way  the  secular  school  may  repeat  its  "morning 
prayer. 


ETHICAL  LESSONS 

I  KNOW  a  school  yard,  mere  contemplation  of  which 
teaches  a  lesson  as  effectively  as  when  one  considers 
its  usefulness  or  the  feelings  which  created  it.  One 
might  almost  call  it  a  cooperative  poem. 

It  is  the  yard  of  a  village  school.  One  reaches  it 
through  a  long  street  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  the 
public  highway,  fringed  with  low  houses  and  narrowed 
by  the  odorous  plats  of  compost  in  front  of  each  dwell- 
ing, browned  in  the  heat  of  the  sun.  It  seems  as  if 
the  whole  scene  had  been  designed  to  intensify  the 
effect  of  the  school  yard. 

One  comes  upon  it  suddenly  at  the  side  of  the  road 
(the  school  building  at  the  farther  end),  a  fine  plot  of 
ground  containing  more  than  four  thousand  square 
feet,  and  decorated  in  the  center  by  a  bed  of  bright- 
colored  flowers.  A  quaint  iron  grille  separates  it  from 
the  road,  with  its  dirty  water  flowing  down  to  the 
brook. 

During  recreation  I  told  the  teacher  of  my  pleasure 
and  astonishment  at  seeing  so  fine  an  entrance  to  his 
humble  school,  and  I  praised  the  town  authorities  for 
placing  the  court  of  honor  in  front  of  the  "school 
palace."  The  teacher  listened  with  a  smile.  "If  you 
had  only  seen  it  six  years  ago!"  he  said,  and  little  by 
little  he  told  me  the  history  of  the  yard. 


176    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

When  the  teacher  arrived  in  the  village, -^fe  open 
space  in  front  of  the  combination  town  hall  i^  school- 
house  was  a  rough  plateau  of  clay,  where  one  sank  up 
to  one's  ankles  after  the  least  rain.  As  a  playground 
it  was  both  disagreeable  and  dangerous,  and  the  mud 
from  the  children's  shoes  kept  the  classroom  con- 
stantly dirty.  Facing  these  difficulties,  the  teacher 
determined  to  put  the  yard  in  good  condition. 

Realizing  the  hopelessness  of  securing  an  appropri- 
ation from  the  town,  he  appealed  to  the  community. 
He  asked  the  people  who  were  repairing  roofs  or  re- 
placing old  slate  roofs  with  tiles  to  give  him  the  dis- 
carded slate.  Soon  there  were  heaps  of  these  flat  slates 
in  the  yard,  and  at  each  recess  master  and  pupils  crushed 
them.  "We  did  our  *  fatigue  duty,'"  said  the  master. 
And  it  certainly  was  exemplary  *' fatigue  duty." 

The  rough  places  were  filled  in,  and  the  clay  was 
beaten  down.  But  there  was  still  the  rain  to  be 
dreaded.  Then  it  was  decided  to  make  a  ten-inch 
layer  of  slate  and  stones,  through  which  the  rain  now 
percolates  down  to  the  gutter  in  the  street. 

To  complete  the  task,  gravel  and  sand  were  needed. 
Providence  (Help  thyself  and  heaven  will  help  thee), 
in  the  form  of  a  colleague  in  the  next  district  who  had 
been  won  over  to  the  secular  school,  furnished  these. 
"The  railroad  over  here  is  being  repaired,"  he  in- 
formed our  pioneer,  "and  the  company  is  changing  its 
ballast.  You  may  have  this  material  for  nothing,  and 
the  company  will  thank  you  for  hauling  it  away." 
Having  made  the  children  do  fatigue  duty,  the  school- 
master now  called  upon  the  fathers.  He  "mobilized" 
(to  use  his  own  expression)  five  or  six  farmers;    the 


EDMOND  BLANGUERNON  177 

provide~»*^^ial  sand  was  hauled  away  in  carts ;  and  the 
teacher  i^  Id  with  a  smile, "  The  whole  thing  cost  me  only 
a  few  treats.*' 

The  yard  finished,  he  wanted  a  fence  about  it.  Little 
by  little  a  wall  was  built,  and  soon  the  fine  grille  lifted 
its  iron  lances.  This  alone  cost  150  francs.  In  the 
latter  case,  however,  the  town  council  paid  the  bill. 
"Of  course  it  would  be  impossible  to  leave  the  task 
half  done,"  the  teacher  told  them.  "I  ask  you  nothing 
for  acting  as  secretary  to  all  your  unions,  but  I  ask  you 
to  give  me  a  wall  and  a  gate."  It  took  three  years  to 
get  them.  Now  he  wants  the  grille  painted  a  warm 
red.  He  has  been  voted  fifteen  francs  for  paint  on 
condition  that  he  does  the  work  himself.  Having  been 
a  pioneer,  he  will  gladly  turn  painter. 

Is  there  not  poetry  in  all  that.?  And  has  not  this 
yard  been  beautified  by  all  the  sentiment  and  the  will 
power  that  have  been  expended  on  it  ?  The  old  houses 
whisper,  "We  gave  our  slate."  The  carts  on  their  way 
to  the  fields  grind  out  slowly,  "We  carried  the  ballast 
from  the  railroad."  The  men  remember  the  toast 
drunk  to  the  health  of  the  teacher  after  their  work 
was  finished.  The  whole  village  can  still  see  teacher 
and  children  doing  "fatigue  duty."  Everybody  in 
the  village  is  proud  of  this  yard,  which  represents  the 
cooperative  work  of  all.  A  public  school  teacher  has 
built  upon  it  his  most  enduring  lessons. 

I  know  a  school  where  energy  and  devotion  to  pro- 
fessional duty  are  practiced  and  taught  without  a 
word.  On  the  opening  day  the  teacher  does  not  stir 
from  his  chair.    He  moves  slowly  and  with  diflSculty; 


178    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

and  in  spite  of  all  his  self-control  his  lips  twitch  pain- 
fully from  time  to  time.  He  is  suffering  from  a  dis- 
located shoulder,  a  fractured  rib,  and  a  sprained 
thumb,  to  say  nothing  of  bruises  on  his  face  and  body. 
A  serious  bicycle  accident  four  days  before  the  open- 
ing of  school  left  him  in  this  pitiable  condition.  The 
doctor  prescribed  a  twenty-day  rest.  But  the  idea  of 
not  opening  school,  of  abandoning  his  class ! 

This  teacher  writes  his  inspector:  "The  right  arm 
is  in  good  condition  except  for  the  sprained  thumb. 
I  no  longer  have  any  fever,  and  my  appetite  is  good ; 
I  prefer  to  take  up  my  work  and  get  my  class  under 
way.  If  complications  appear,  I  shall  ask  for  the  first 
leave  since  I  began  to  teach." 

I  admire  that  immensely  and  I  am  proud  of  having 
associates  of  such  fiber.  What  a  lesson  in  spirit  and 
fortitude  this  must  be  for  the  pupils !  They  probably 
will  never  read  Bossuet,  but  what  need  is  there  to  make 
the  acquaintance  of  "the  valorous  Comte  de  Fontaines  " 
carried  in  his  chair  to  Rocroi.^*  Have  they  not  before 
them  at  their  school  opening  the  spectacle  of  a  "spirit 
that  dominates  the  body  it  animates"? 

ON  THE  THRESHOLD  OF  APRIL 

The  ground  in  our  woods  is  sprinkled  with  wild  hya- 
cinths and  periwinkles,  with  anemones  and  primroses. 
The  premature  stars  of  dogwood  follow  in  the  wake 
of  the  hazel's  golden  buds  and  the  silvery  tassels  of 
the  willows.  Leaves  are  unfolding.  Through  showers 
and  winds,  with  a  feathery  cloud  on  his  sunny  crest, 
March  has  accomplished    his  task,  like    the  amiable 


EDMOND  BLANGUERNON  179 

harbinger  that  he  is,  and  has  prepared  the  way  for 
spring. 

Beautiful  springtime,  youth  of  the  year,  who  better 
than  thou  should  initiate  the  minds  and  the  souls  of 
our  young  pupils  into  the  joy  and  the  fresh  beauty  of 
the  outside  world  ?  During  this  month  and  the  month 
of  May,  thou  shalt  be  queen  of  our  classroom;  thou 
shalt  smile  in  the  bouquet  which  we  shall  daily  bring 
to  our  desks.  Above  all  thou  shalt  be  the  harmonious 
center  from  which  all  our  tasks  shall  gladly  and  spon- 
taneously spring.  From  the  smallest  children  up  to 
the  big  boys  and  girls  (our  "big  people"  twelve  years 
of  age),  all  our  pupils  will  understand  and  love  life 
through  thee.  See,  last  night  I  told  my  children  to 
pick  some  hawthorn  branches  in  the  hedges  this  morn- 
ing. We  begin  the  morning  by  examining  them  and 
enjoying  their  exquisite  grace.  We  sort  and  name  them 
according  to  form,  color,  and  perfume,  and  the  faint 
scent  pervading  the  room  speaks  of  thee.  In  a  little 
while  our  big  boys  and  girls  will  hold  in  their  fingers 
petals,  and  stamens,  and  calyx,  and  thou  wilt  pardon 
the  analyses  of  these  little  scientists.  They  will  even 
try  to  reproduce  forms  and  tints.  Do  not  smile  if 
their  water  color  is  not  well  done,  or  their  pastel  suf- 
ficiently transparent. 

But  the  little  ones  are  waiting ;  it  is  the  arithmetic 
hour.  I  distributed  thy  hawthorns  to  my  primer  class. 
They  began  by  smelling  them  and  are  now  counting 
the  petals.  And  we  are  going  to  figure  out :  "In  three 
hawthorn  blossoms  how  many  petals?  With  fifteen 
petals  how  many  can  we  (pardon  !),  how  many  hawthorn 
blossoms  can  the  springtime  make?" 


180    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

Why  should  not  my  older  pupils  describe  the  spot 
where  these  blossoms  grew  at  the  very  moment  of  the 
day  when  they  gathered  them,  and  relate  with  an 
awkward  pen,  which  I  wish  to  keep  naive  and  sin- 
cere, the  feelings  which  at  that  moment  thou  didst 
awaken  in  them? 

And  thus,  during  all  these  weeks,  O  spring!  thou 
shalt  be  monitor  and  guide.  We  have  given  thy  seeds 
to  the  garden;  we  shall  follow  their  awakening  and 
their  growth  under  thy  breath  and  sunshine.  And  we 
shall  be  bold  enough  to  throw  open  the  now  gloomy 
doors.  We  shall  go  out  into  the  open  country  to  listen 
to  thy  lessons.  Thou  wilt  show  us  plants,  insects, 
and  nests.  Thou  wilt  even  sacrifice  to  our  herbaria 
plants  which  we  are  forced  to  label  "useful"  or  "harm- 
ful," although  they  all  have  the  beauty  of  living 
things.  And  there  will  be  poetry,  and  there  will  be 
science. 

In  the  fields,  in  the  meadows,  and  in  the  woods, 
thou  wilt  make  us  love  the  fruitful  land  of  France, 
where  for  centuries  our  fathers  have  succeeded  each 
other  in  the  noble  task  of  tilling  the  soil,  the  soil  which 
we  are  determined  to  keep  for  our  hands  and  our  hearts 
by  the  passionate  attention  we  devote  to  it. 

O,  thou  who  dost  waken  the  wheat  so  long  asleep 
under  the  frost,  who  bringest  to  light  the  hidden 
workings  of  the  seeds,  tell  us  that  it  would  be  un- 
pardonable if  we  did  not  try  to  arouse  the  souls  of  our 
little  children  to  this  proud  symbolism  of  the  victory 
over  winter,  of  virile  effort  and  persevering  hope ! 
Make  them  believe  enthusiastically  in  the  life  that  is 
sincere  and  vibrant. 


EDMOND  BLANGUERNON  181 

Strengthen  the  instinct  to  grow  and  to  struggle  which 
surges  up  within  them !  Give  them  a  feeHng  and  a 
desire  for  the  Hberty  of  the  heavens,  for  the  solid 
strength  of  the  earth,  for  the  delicacy  of  the  flowers ! 
And  we  shall  ask  the  poets  to  sing  thy  praises. 


GEORGES  LEYGUES 

Georges  Leygues  (1858-  ),  advocate,  publicist,  statesman. 
Member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  since  1885 ;  at  various  times 
minister  of  public  instruction  (thrice),  minister  of  the  interior, 
minister  for  the  colonies,  and  vice-president  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies. 

EDUCATION  1 

The  most  important  function  of  the  school  is  to  edu- 
cate. Instruction  preserves  and  transmits  to  man- 
kind the  treasures  of  acquired  truth.  Education 
enlightens  man's  conscience,  strengthens  his  judg- 
ment, and  tempers  his  will.  To  think  well,  to  judge 
well,  and  to  be  able  to  govern  oneself  are  worth  more 
than  to  know  much. 

A  school  which  does  not  educate  makes  teaching  a 
mere  mechanical  process,  a  calling  without  social 
significance,  without  dignity,  without  perspective. 

Two  systems  of  education  stand  facing  each  other. 
One  starts  with  the  hypothesis  that  man's  nature  is 
evil.  Hence  the  necessity  of  watching  over  and  curb- 
ing his  natural  instincts,  of  submitting  his  mind  to  a 
strict  discipline,  in  order  to  modify  and  bring  it  as 
near  as  possible  to  a  preconceived  type. 

The  other  starts  with  the  opposite  hypothesis,  that 
man's  nature  is  good.  Hence  the  necessity  of  facilitat- 
ing the  development  of  his  natural  characteristics  and 
of  directing  his  impulses  instead  of  repressing  them. 

The  first  system  teaches  man  to  seek  the  guiding 
principles  of  his  life  in  accepted  precepts,  or  in  the 
fiat  of  an  external  will ;  the  other  teaches  him  to  seek 
these  same  principles,  at  his  own  peril  and  risk,  in 

1  L'Scole  el  la  vie,  1904. 
182 


GEORGES  LEYGUES  183 

himself,  in  his  conscience,  and  in  his  reason.  The  first 
system  represses  the  personality ;  the  second  develops 
it.  The  first  system  restricts  responsibility;  the 
second  extends  it.  The  first  system  makes  disciplined 
minds ;    the  second  makes  for  freedom  of  thought. 

The  first  system  is  that  which  the  opponents  of  the 
State  teachers  have  been  putting  into  practice  since 
the  sixteenth  century;  the  second  is  that  of  the 
philosophers  of  antiquity,  and  of  men  like  Montaigne, 
Voltaire,  Rousseau,  and  Michelet.  It  is  the  system 
of  the  university. 

The  child  is  not  a  passive  being,  a  mass  to  be  molded 
at  will.  His  head  is  not  a  storehouse  where  the  teacher 
may  do  as  he  pleases  and  garner  both  wheat  and  chaff. 
The  child  reflects  and  reasons  from  the  moment  he 
begins  to  understand.  His  criticism  is  doubtless  quite 
uncertain,  quite  vague  and  irresolute,  but  it  exists. 
Do  not  scorn  this  awakening  judgment ;  do  not  make 
the  child  lose  faith  in  himself.  Rather,  strive  to  de- 
velop the  confidence  that  the  child  places  in  his  young 
reason  and  make  him  feel  that  you  share  this  con- 
fidence. 

There  is  an  inner  sanctuary  in  the  child  which  we 
must  not  profane,  for  it  is  there  that  his  soul  develops, 
that  the  germs  which  form  his  individuality  are  lodged. 
Caprice,  violence,  and  fits  of  temper  in  children  are 
very  often  but  an  excess  of  vitality,  the  overflow  of  un- 
conscious forces  which  must  be  directed  and  regulated, 
but  not  broken. 

To  devitalize  character,  to  conquer  nature,  to  hu- 
miliate the  reason  —  for  many  years  such  was  the 
fundamental  principle  of  education,  and  it  still  pre- 


184    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

vails  in  certain  schools.  This  is  a  false  and  barbarous 
conception.  Too  strict  tutelage  leads  to  deceit,  and 
constant  admonition  leads  to  hypocrisy.  All  unjust 
pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  the  thought  or  nature 
of  the  child  is  a  blow  aimed  at  his  dignity,  a  crushing 
of  his  individuality,  an  enfeebling  of  his  spiritual  and 
moral  forces. 

This  being  true,  one  is  moved  to  ask,  "What  con- 
stitutes a  good  educator  .f^" 

The  good  educator  cannot  be  a  theorist,  living  apart 
from  the  world,  a  stranger  to  his  generation  and  his 
time.  If  the  educator  would  influence  youth,  he  must 
follow  the  progress  of  ideas,  the  political  and  social 
movements,  the  aspirations  and  needs  of  contemporary 
life.  Furthermore,  he  must  be  conversant  with  the 
immutable  educational  principles  which  belong  to  all 
countries  and  all  ages,  the  influences  and  effects  of 
time  and  environment  which  act  upon  the  soul  of  the 
child  and  of  the  adolescent.  In  order  to  quell  re- 
bellion, to  dissipate  certain  illusions,  he  must  have 
been  himself  capable  of  feeling  them  and  of  suffering 
from  them. 

He  must  also  seek  his  guiding  principles  in  national 
traditions.  Each  people  has  its  way  marked  out  for 
it.  Its  origin,  its  genius,  its  history  have  made  for 
it  a  soUl  different  from  the  soul  of  other  peoples.  In 
education  the  particular  and  distinctive  character 
of  each  race  is  most  forcibly  manifest.  Imitation 
would  mar  our  natural  qualities  without  making  us 
acquire  new  ones.  Moreover,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  German  pedagogy,  which  has  been  so  often  held 
up  as  a  model,  has  borrowed  its  strongest  and  most 


GEORGES  LEYGUES  185 

vital  features  from  French  pedagogy,  from  the  works 
of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau. 

The  Greek  republics  saw  in  education  the  only  means 
of  defending  their  cities  against  the  barbarians  within 
and  the  barbarians  without,  and  of  protecting  them 
against  the  despotism  of  the  tyrants  or  of  the  multitude, 
for  the  tyranny  of  the  majority  is  not  less  odious  than 
the  tyranny  of  a  single  individual. 

For  us  the  problem  states  itself  in  the  same  terms : 
education  is  a  question  of  life  and  death. 

A  democratic  nation  is  a  great  community  of  in- 
terests and  Responsibilities.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  na- 
tion to  demand  for  all  its  citizens  a  minimum  amount 
of  instruction  and  freedom  of  thought,  for  ignorant 
or  fanatical  masses  may  constitute  the  most  for- 
midable of  dangers.  Each  one  is  responsible  for  him- 
self;  each  one  wields  through  his  vote  a  share  of  the 
public  power  and  is  able  by  his  wisdom  or  his  folly 
to  influence  his  own  destiny  and  the  destiny  of  others. 
It  is  important,  therefore,  constantly  to  increase  the 
intellectual  capital  of  the  nation,  to  train  up  citizens 
who  will  be  above  selfish  considerations,  to  develop 
a  political  sense  which  will  subordinate  private  in- 
terests to  the  general  good,  to  engender  a  sense  of 
duty,  and  to  create  great  moral  forces  which  are  the 
sole  guarantee  against  slavery  or  demagogism. 

What  is  the  aim  of  education  ? 

The  ancient  philosophers  defined  it  thus,  "To  train 
the  body,  form  the  mind,  regulate  the  manner  of  living." 

Education  taken  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word 
should,  then,  be  physical,  aesthetic,  patriotic,  civic, 
philosophic,  and  moral. 


186    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

I  am  not  speaking  here  of  religious  education,  for 
I  am  concerned  only  with  the  duties  of  the  State. 
Now  the  State  teaches  no  dogma.  Religious  educa- 
tion belongs  to  the  family  and  the  ministers  of  the 
different  creeds.  If  the  State  teaches  no  religion,  it 
should  not  oppose  the  practice  of  any  belief  or  the 
exercise  of  any  cult.  Freedom  of  thought,  which  is 
the  fundamental  principle  of  the  republican  State, 
is  inseparable  from  liberty  of  belief.  The  domain  of 
the  conscience  is  inviolable.  In  religious  matters, 
each  one  has  the  right  to  say  that  he  possesses  truth; 
but  none  has  the  right  to  impose  his  faith  or  his  un- 
belief upon  others.  The  slightest  restraint  in  this 
matter  must  always  arouse  the  indignation  of  con- 
scientious and  noble  souls. 

Let  us  not  make  the  mistake,  so  profitable  to  our 
adversaries,  of  confounding  things  which  should  not 
be  confounded.  Let  us  avoid  even  the  appearance  of 
opposing  the  sincere  religious  spirit,  which  is  a  moral 
and  philosophic  force  worthy  of  all  respect,  because 
we  oppose  the  clerical  spirit  which  has  its  source 
neither  in  morality  nor  in  faith. 

The  clerical  spirit  is  common  to  all  countries  and  all 
times.  It  is  common  to  all  religions.  There  are 
Protestant  and  Jewish  clericals,  just  as  there  are  Catho- 
lic clericals.  Clericalism  is  only  a  reactionary  power 
at  open  war  with  civil  society.  Between  it  and  religion 
there  is  nothing  in  common. 

Religious  neutrality  thus  understood  in  no  way 
attacks  the  teacher's  independence.  The  teacher 
does  not  renounce  any  of  his  rights  as  a  man  and  a 
citizen  when  he  enters  the  service  of  the  State,  but  by 


GEORGES  LEYGUES  187 

voluntary  submission  to  a  control  which  enhances 
and  confirms  his  authority,  "he  makes  it  a  duty  to 
respect  in  the  soul  of  his  pupils  the  convictions  of  their 
families,"  ^  and  "he  accepts  as  the  limit  of  the  rights 
of  his  thought  the  rights  of  the  child's  conscience."  ^ 

^  A.  Croiset,  USducation  morale  dans  VuniversitS,  Introduction. 
*  Leon  Bourgeois,  Discours  du  concours  gSneral,  1892. 


EMILE  DURCKHEIM 

Emile  Durckheim  (1858-  ),  professor  of  the  science  of  edu- 
cation at  the  Sorbonne,  author  of  important  philosophical  works, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  French  sociologists. 

THE  SCHOOL  OF  TOMORROW » 

It  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war  France  has  gained  for  herself  an  incontestable 
moral  position  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  All  peoples, 
even  Germany  herself,  render  homage  to  the  virtues 
she  has  shown,  to  the  heroism  of  her  troops,  to  the 
grave  and  calm  endurance  with  which  the  country  has 
borne  the  frightful  calamities  of  a  war  unparalleled 
in  history.  What  does  this  mean  if  not  that  our  edu- 
cational methods  have  produced  the  best  effect  that 
could  be  expected  of  them;  that  our  public  school 
has  made  men  of  the  children  confided  to  it?  The 
public  school  has  naturally  had  the  largest  share  in  this 
result,  since  its  pupils  represent  the  majority  of  the 
school  population.  We  can,  therefore,  with  perfect 
certainty  conclude  that  it  has  performed  its  task  well. 
In  no  case  would  there  be  a  question  of  renouncing 
the  principles  on  which  its  teaching  rests;  the  war 
has  proved  their  worth.  This  is  a  fact  beyond  all  dis- 
cussion, and  one  which  should  put  a  stop  to  certain 
controversies. 

But  it  is  very  clear  that  certain  significant  lessons 
are  to  be  drawn  from  the  war.  However  satisfied 
we  may  be  with  our  work,  there  is  still  room  to  follow 
it  up  and  improve  it.  The  terrible  experience  that 
we   have    been   going   through    for   the   last   sixteen 

^  Manuel  gHeral  de  Vinstniction  primaire,  December  15,  1915. 
188 


EMILE  DURCKHEIM  189 

months  shows  us  in  what  directions  we  should  turn 
our  efforts. 

If  France,  which  on  the  very  eve  of  the  war  was 
dragging  out  a  chaotic  and  colorless  public  life,  has 
demonstrated  this  heroism  that  the  world  so  admires, 
it  is  evidently  because  she  possessed  certain  unsus- 
pected moral  forces  which  slumbered  for  want  of  a 
definite  object  to  which  to  devote  themselves.  The 
moment  the  country  was  in  danger,  all  individuals 
found  themselves  united  in  one  common  aim.  In- 
stead of  clashing  and  mutually  paralyzing  one  another, 
they  became  united,  and  by  the  unity  of  their  action 
they  accomplished  great  things.  The  miraculous 
renaissance  of  which  people  have  talked  is  reduced 
to  a  very  simple  psychological  phenomenon,  which  is 
nevertheless  most  creditable  and  full  of  promise,  for 
it  bears  witness  to  our  vitality  and  shows  what  we  can 
do  when  we  see  clearly  what  we  must  do.  If,  there- 
fore, we  do  not  wish  to  fall  back  into  the  vagaries 
of  the  past,  it  is  necessary  that  not  only  in  time  of 
crisis,  but  normally  and  constantly,  all  efforts  be 
directed  to  a  single  aim,  above  all  religious  prejudice 
and  party  formula.  This  end  is  not  difficult  to  dis- 
cover :  It  is  the  moral  greatness  of  France. 

Our  whole  teaching  should  develop  around  this  idea  : 
to  awaken  the  corresponding  feeling,  implant  it  in  all 
hearts,  and  cultivate  it  as  far  as  possible.  Such  should 
be  the  chief  task  of  the  school.  Certainly  we  are  far 
from  having  done  nothing  in  this  direction.  Our 
moral  teaching  is  sound,  as  experience  has  proved, 
but  it  is  not  sufficiently  concentrated,  and  conse- 
quently it  is  somewhat  lacking  in  energy.     It  must  be 


190    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

emphasized  more,  so  that  it  may  act  vigorously.  The 
memories  left  by  the  terrible  trial  we  are  under- 
going —  memories  which  should  be  kept  forever  in 
our  minds  —  will  easily  furnish  the  motive. 

Not  only  will  this  sentiment  have  the  eflFect  of  unify- 
ing action,  when  it  is  once  fixed  in  the  consciousness, 
but  it  will  also  be  a  powerful  stimulus  for  the  will. 

For  some  time  our  moral  and  national  activity  has 
been  growing  more  and  more  nonchalant  in  aspect. 
We  have  devoted  ourselves  to  living  quietly  and  com- 
fortably, without  responsibility.  We  have  shrunk 
from  those  undertakings  which  entailed  risk  and  effort. 
Now  a  great  people  should  have  ambitions  that  are 
in  keeping  with  its  moral  forces.  It  must  aim  to  ac- 
complish a  task  which  shall  endure,  to  leave  its  mark 
on  the  history  of  humanity.  A  strong  personality 
cannot  help  expressing  itself  in  action.  If  there  is 
something  morbid  in  Germany's  passion  for  the  colossal 
and  the  unbounded,  our  satisfaction  with  mediocrity 
is  likewise  unworthy  of  a  great  nation.  It  is  necessary, 
then,  that  all  individual  purposes  should  be  devoted 
to  some  high  ideal  which  shall  wrest  them  from  their 
natural  indolence,  which  shall  perpetually  spur  them 
on  to  greater  effort.  Is  not  the  ideal  of  which  we  have 
just  spoken  the  best  fitted  to  exert  this  influence  ? 

But  the  war  has  revealed  another  serious  lack  in  our 
moral  development. 

Events  have  proved  that  our  high  spirits  and  natural 
good  humor  have  not  excluded  the  spirit  of  sacrifice 
and  self-denial.  We  have  seen  that  the  Frenchman 
knew  how  to  brave  everything  and  endure  everything 
for  a  great  cause,  but  we  have  had  to  recognize  that 


EMILE  DURCKHEBI  191 

he  did  not  have  the  spirit  of  discipline  in  the  same 
degree.  We  do  not  know  as  well  as  our  enemies  how 
to  regulate  our  movements  or  those  of  others,  how  to 
act  together  and  obey  a  common  law.  We  are  all  too 
much  inclined  to  follow  our  own  judgment.  Certainly 
there  could  be  no  question  of  borrowing  from  Germany 
her  massive  and  automatic  discipline,  which  presupposes 
in  those  who  submit  to  it  a  passivity  of  which  we  are 
incapable.  Nevertheless,  the  fact  remains  that  respect 
for  the  law  is  the  condition  of  all  action  in  common. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  this  sentiment  has  been 
weakened  in  France,  where  the  very  idea  of  moral  au- 
thority, the  basis  of  all  solid  discipline,  has  been  vigor- 
ously attacked.  One  of  our  best  educators,  one  of  the 
noblest  souls  of  this  epoch,  declared  a  few  years  ago 
that  the  notion  of  authority,  of  obligation,  of  the 
regulation  which  one  respects  because  it  commands, 
is  archaic  and  contradicts  the  very  principles  of  de- 
mocracy. And,  indeed,  since  democracy  has  for  its 
main  object  the  awakening  and  developing  of  the  sense 
of  personal  autonomy,  and  since  autonomy  and  au- 
thority are  wrongly  considered  incompatible,  it  seems 
very  natural  that  democracy  should  imply  and  bring 
about  a  weakening  of  the  respect  for  authority.  Thus 
there  has  come  about  a  weakening  of  discipline  in 
school  as  well  as  in  society. 

The  school  of  tomorrow  must  abandon  this  grave 
error.  It  is  necessary  to  have  respect  for  legitimate 
authority,  that  is  to  say,  for  moral  authority,  to  in- 
culcate in  the  child  the  religion  of  law,  and  to  teach 
him  the  joy  of  acting  in  concert  with  others  according 
to  an  impersonal,  universal  law.     It  is  necessary  that 


192    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

the  school  discipline  appear  to  the  children  as  a  just 
and  sacred  thing,  the  basis  of  their  happiness  and  moral 
health.  Thus  as  men  they  will  accept  spontaneously 
and  with  open  eyes  the  social  discipline  which  cannot 
be  undermined  without  endangering  the  whole  social 
fabric. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES 

During  the  school  year  1911-1912  the  Manuel  gSnSral  de  Vinstmo- 
Hon  primaire  announced  a  contest  on  "the  situation  and  the  r6le 
of  the  teacher  in  modern  society."  Each  competitor  was  asked 
"not  for  a  dissertation,  but  for  a  picture  of  his  real  life,  both 
material  and  spiritual,  a  sincere  statement  of  his  aspirations,  — 
in  short,  for  the  way  he  understood  the  great  educative  task  in- 
trusted to  him  by  the  Republic." 

The  extracts  that  follow  are  taken  verbatim  from  the  several 
hundred  answers  that  reached  the  Manuel  ginSral.  The  names 
api>ended  are  the  names  of  the  provinces  whence  the  letters  came. 

The  village  I  have  just  come  to  has  350  inhabitants ; 
it  is  lost  in  the  middle  of  a  vast  plain.  From  a  dis- 
tance, at  this  time  of  the  year,  one  can  barely  dis- 
tinguish it  from  the  plain,  so  low  and  dull  are  its  houses 
under  the  gray  sky.  I  feel  terribly  alone  this  evening, 
among  all  these  strangers  who  a  little  while  ago  watched 
me  pass  by,  standing  envious  and  open-mouthed  on 
their  thresholds.  I  am  taking  the  place  of  an  old 
schoolmistress  they  have  had  for  twenty  years.  I  am 
young,  and  my  hat  is  in  this  year's  fashion.  I  do  not 
inspire  confidence.  Things  are  gray  within  me  as 
well  as  around  me,  but  the  sadness  comes  from  without. 
At  the  bottom  of  my  heart  all  is  hope.  Although  this 
community  is  complete  solitude,  at  the  same  time  the 
way  is  open  to  the  opportunities  and  the  responsi- 
bilities I  have  so  earnestly  desired. 

March,  1897.  1  like  my  pupils ;  I  believe  we  shall 
get  on  well  together.  While  they  certainly  have  not 
the  keen  intelligence  of  city  children,  on  the  other 
hand  they  seem  much  more  thoughtful  and  perhaps 
more  thoroughly  sincere.  They  are  picturesque  and 
pathetic.     Oh !    those  ruddy  faces,  those  candid  eyes, 

193 


194    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

those  dresses  cut  from  the  old  petticoats  of  the  grand- 
mothers ! 

Seine-et-Oise 


October,  1899,  I  have  been  appointed  to  a  village 
forty  miles  from  my  family.  My  chief  is  an  old,  sweet- 
faced  sister  still  in  the  service  in  spite  of  the  laicization 
of  the  department.  She  received  me  with  a  great 
deal  of  cordiality  and  animation,  looked  at  me  from 
behind  her  spectacles,  and  declared,  "We  shall  get 
on  well  together,  I  can  see  that." 

Sister  Melanie,  her  companion,  is  faded  and  as  color- 
less as  a  tapestry  figure. 

My  room,  a  closet  about  as  big  as  a  handkerchief, 
is  hung  in  blue  paper  covered  with  birds  chasing  each 
other.  My  classroom  is  long  and  narrow,  very  low, 
with  a  worm-eaten,  shaky  door  which  opens  out  on  a 
sunken  path.  The  desks  are  old  and  shaky,  too,  but 
my  enthusiasm  is  great,  and  my  aspirations  are  bound- 
less. 

Monday.  I  have  eighty-five  pupils.  Later  on  others 
will  be  coming  along,  who  are  now  picking  potatoes. 
I  feel  bewildered  in  the  face  of  this  crowd  of  little 
people.  I  have  passed  the  day  organizing  my  classes 
and  getting  things  under  way.  The  principal  came 
into  my  classroom  this  morning,  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  and  all  the  pupils  chanted  prayers  for  a  half- 
hour.  What  could  one  do?  And  this  morning  Sister 
Melanie,  coming  in  stealthily,  took  a  seat  at  the  farther 
end  of  my  classroom,  gave  me  a  friendly  little  nod, 
and  started  the  little  ones  on  syllable  exercises.  Now 
I   understand   the   words   of   the   academy   inspector 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  195 

when  he  gave  me  this   "position  of  responsibility," 
"You  will  need  patience  and  tact,  Mademoiselle." 

Haute-Vienne 

I  am  the  only  teacher  in  a  little  village  near  Lyons. 
Rising  at  six  in  the  morning,  I  put  my  little  home  in 
order.  I  have  a  clean,  attractive  apartment  which 
the  municipality  has  fitted  out  above  the  classroom. 
There  are  four  bright,  airy  rooms,  with  fireplaces, 
running  water  in  the  kitchen  sink,  and  electricity 
everywhere.  In  short,  I  have  all  the  modern  con- 
veniences, as  well  as  a  new  school  that  looks  like  a 
little  villa,  with  beds  of  roses  on  either  side  of  the  en- 
trance door  and  flowering  shrubs  around  the  play- 
ground. ^    „ 

Rhone 

The  classroom  is  decorated  with  fine  engravings. 
The  light  sifts  through  the  thin  curtains  in  the  big 
bay  window.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  be  here.  "We  are 
better  off  here  than  at  our  home,"  say  the  children. 
What  progress  !  Formerly  the  schoolhouse  was  a  mere 
hovel  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and  all  the  village 
children  had  to  cross  in  a  boat.  The  classroom  was 
not  different  from  a  stable,  except  that  there  was  no 
straw  and  that  it  contained  a  few  stools.  The  old  men 
of  the  village  never  tire  of  citing  the  difference  between 
their  shelter,  so  primitive  and  dull,  and  the  new  school, 
so  bright  and  hospitable. 

AiN 

I  earn  2100  francs,^  —  salary  1800  francs,  town 
clerkship  300  francs.     I  am  given  a  heated  apartment ; 

» $420.    Roughly  speaking,  there  are  five  francs  to  the  dollar. 


196    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

I  have  a  garden  of  eight  hundred  square  yards,  and 
an  experiment  field  of  one  hundred  square  yards, 
where  I  raise  more  than  enough  vegetables  and  fruit 
for  my  family.  I  even  give  away  a  certain  amount 
to  poor  neighbors,  who  in  return  come  from  time  to 
time  to  help  me  in  my  gardening.  We  raise  rabbits 
and  poultry,  chiefly  on  the  products  of  the  garden  and 
the  experiment  field.  Our  chickens  supply  us  with 
eggs  practically  the  year  round,  and  we  even  sell  some 
when  the  supply  exceeds  our  needs.  At  present  we 
make  our  own  bread. 

NiEVRE 

My  financial  situation  would  be  precarious  enough 
if  I  were  not  secretary  of  the  town  council  and  treasurer 
of  the  savings  bank.  At  forty-one  years  of  age,  with 
a  salary  of  1800  francs,  I  am  grouped  in  the  teachers 
of  the  third  class. ^  I  have  four  children,  and  truly 
we  should  be  in  misery  but  for  my  outsrde  work.  In 
fact,  the  teacher  is  a  government  employee  who  cannot 
earn  his  living  at  teaching.  He  is  obliged  to  resort 
to  other  work  in  order  to  keep  his  family  ahve. 

Sarthe 

If  the  picture  of  my  financial  situation  shows  dark 
shadows,  I  can  say  frankly  that  my  whole  moral  situa- 
tion is  lighted  up  by  the  calm  joy  that  the  practice  of 
my  profession  brings. 

Oh  !  the  sovereign  charm  of  the  classroom  !  What 
poet  teacher,  enamored  of  his  work,  can  tell  us  of  the 
compelHng  interest  in  the  lesson  that  makes  the  eyes 

^  The  third  class  is  composed  of  teachers  who  have  passed  at  least  ten 
years  in  the  service  of  the  State. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  197 

of  the  pupil  shine  and  his  face  light  up,  which  concen- 
trates the  attention  of  all  on  the  subject  in  hand,  which 
awakens  and  sharpens  the  mind,  illumines  the  elements 
of  knowledge,  and  opens  the  way  toward  divine 
splendors ! 

Who  can  tell  us  of  the  joyous  mental  activity  when 
one  tries  to  select  from  the  subject  matter  those  parts 
that  are  the  most  vital  and  at  the  same  time  the  richest, 
those  which  the  child's  mind  seeks  out  instinctively, 
which  it  receives  with  a  secret  satisfaction,  those  ideas 
which  will  at  once  form  and  nourish  the  mind?  Who 
does  not  understand  the  joy  of  the  teacher  who  watches 
the  upward  flight  of  a  young  soul,  who  feels  it  vibrate 
in  contact  with  truth,  and  echo  in  pure,  crystalline 
notes  the  sublime  accents  of  the  great  poets ;  who  sees 
this  soul  finally  become  conscious  of  itself  and  of  its 
aspirations,  and  grow  toward  the  ideal  of  justice, 
beauty,  and  kindness? 

But  who  will  not  also  understand  the  bitterness  of 
my  regret,  when,  after  the  work  of  the  town  council 
has  been  too  heavy  or  the  night  tasks  too  tedious, 
morning  finds  me  insufficiently  prepared;  when  my 
weary  brain  cannot  recover  its  poise ;  when  it  can  no 
longer  stimulate  the  children;  when  the  class  droops 
and  goes  to  sleep  in  the  close,  heavy  atmosphere  ? 

Bad  days,  these,  both  for  teacher  and  pupils !  At 
such  times  I  feel  the  weight  of  this  outside  work,  which 
I  am  nevertheless  obliged  to  carry,  since  it  is  my  means 

of  livelihood.  c, 

Sarthe 

Lost  in  the  country,  I  felt  so  alone  and  so  inex- 
perienced that  a  great  sadness  filled  my  heart.     After 


198    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

school  hours,  what  a  frightful  feeling  of  loneliness  came 
over  me,  in  comparison  with  the  joyous  gayety  of  the 
normal  school !  Pabis 

In  the  eyes  of  the  peasant  and  the  working  man  the 
teacher,  correctly  dressed  and  decently  lodged,  is  a 
lady,  almost  an  aristocrat.  It  should  surely  be  a 
simple  matter  to  keep  children  in  a  brilhantly  lighted, 
well-ventilated  room  that  is  heated  in  winter  and  kept 
cool  in  summer !  To  have  one  rest  day  a  week  besides 
Sunday,  to  have  holidays  at  Christmas  and  Easter 
and  two  long  months  of  Hberty  in  August  and  September 
—  is  not  that  an  enviable  existence  ?  So  a  latent  but 
real  jealousy  springs  up  among  these  workers,  who  have 
no  idea  of  the  exhausting  labors  of  the  school  teachers. 

Rhone 

This  is  a  country  of  large  landholders.  The  town 
provides  my  lodging,  and  my  property  is  not  negotiable : 
woods  that  thrive  under  the  open  sky,  meadows  where 
the  grass  touches  the  knees  of  the  cattle,  red-soil  lands 
where  the  crops  form  green  rivers.  I  have  no  metayers 
to  call  me  "our  gentleman,"  as  in  the  olden  times. 
I  am  from  far  away,  and  that  is  a  great  objection. 
My  mother  came  to  see  us.  Her  coif  was  not  like 
those  in  this  part  of  the  country.  These  are  important 
matters,  things  that  help  establish  a  reputation. 
Finally  I  have  no  horse  and  carriage,  and  since  I  read 
late  into  the  night  I  am  judged  eccentric. 

ViENNE 

We  must  please  everybody,  and  especially  the  good 
electors  of  Monsieur  the  Mayor;    if  not,  look  out  for 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  199 

trouble !  Please  everybody,  but  how,  especially  when 
politics  are  involved  ? 

Monsieur  the  Mayor  comes  into  the  school  as  if  it 
were  his  own  house,  or  rather  as  if  it  were  a  barn,  to 
drag  the  teacher  off  to  the  town  hall,  while  the  pupils 
dance  in  the  classroom.  Another  day  he  sends  the 
teacher  to  the  next  hamlet  for  an  entire  afternoon  in 
order  to  help  the  tax  collector,  who  is  allotting  the  fire- 
wood in  the  forest.  Meanwhile  the  children,  who 
have  been  set  at  liberty,  gambol  in  the  village  streets, 
in  the  fields,  or  in  the  woods. 

A  small  farmer  said  to  me  one  day  in  speaking  of 
his  son,  *'I  should  like  to  make  a  teacher  out  of  him 
but  for  the  fact  that  he  would  have  to  be  everybody's 

The  task  is  hard  for  us  teachers  in  the  Vendean 

country,  where  the  priest  and  the  squire  are  in  league 

against  us  and  our  teaching.     Think  of  being  awakened 

with  a  start  in  the  night  by  abusive  noises  made  under 

your  windows  according  to  orders,   of  reading  each 

morning  on  your  door  odious  anonymous  posters  pasted 

there  during  your  sleep.     In  the  classroom  itself  you 

encounter  the  ill-will  of  the  children,   their  apathy, 

and  their   indolence.     Are   you   obliged   to   scold  for 

careless   work,  for  a  lesson  half  learned,   for  vulgar 

language?     The    child    sneers    and    says    half    aloud, 

"I  will  go  over  to  the  good  sisters." 

Vendee 

From  the  moment  of  my  arrival  at  B ,  I  turned 

my   attention   to   making   myself   popular   with   the 


200    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

children  and  to  winning  the  hearts  of  the  mothers. 
The  population  sought  to  make  things  hard  for  me. 
I  was  spied  upon,  and  the  children  were  questioned 
to  see  if  I  had  not  been  guilty  of  intolerance.  The 
cure  organized  the  campaign.  He  gave  orders  to 
close  the  doors  in  my  face  when  I  made  my  first  round 
of  visits.  He  used  every  means  to  make  life  unbear- 
able for  me  and  to  keep  me  shut  up  at  home.  But  I 
was  not  long  in  gaining  a  real  influence  over  this  com- 
munity, and  ever  since  I  have  been  guarding  it  as  a 
treasure.  Established  as  it  is  in  the  popular  confidence, 
my  school  is,  so  to  speak,  invulnerable.  The  violent 
attacks  on  the  "schoolbooks"  slipped  by  unnoticed. 
Not  a  single  mother  listened  to  the  belligerent  sug- 
gestions so  freely  made. 

Mayenne 

Should  the  teacher  take  part  in  the  fife  of  his  en- 
vironment ? 

"No,"  says  one.  K  there  are  advantages  for  the 
teacher  in  mingling  in  the  social  life  about  him,  there 
are  also  disadvantages.  It  is  more  worth  while,  I 
believe,  to  observe  what  is  going  on  and  to  be  above 
public  opinion.  One  might  go  further  and  maintain 
that  the  true  educator  should  be  before  all  else  a  man 
whose  public  life  is  spent  almost  entirely  in  his  class- 
room, a  man  who  confines  himself  to  bringing  into  his 
classroom  the  modest  virtues  of  family  life. 

Rhone 

"Yes,"  say  many  others.  "We  are  the  educators 
of  the  people,  and  as  such  we  should  fire  the  people 
with  the  desire  for  progress.     How  do  you  expect  us 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  201 

to  lead  the  masses  if  we  are  not  constantly  in  contact 
with  them,  if  we  do  not  live  their  life,  if  we  do  not 
form  one  body  with  them?" 

NiEVBE 

After  twenty  years  I  am  in  sympathy  with  my  en- 
vironment, and  it  is  a  great  blessing.  I  have  become 
attached  to  this  land  where  my  children  were  born. 
I  know  it;  I  know  its  inhabitants,  their  character, 
their  habits,  their  good  qualities,  their  shortcomings. 
I  was  never  foolish  enough  to  criticize  indiscriminately 
what  they  did,  but  now  I  have  come  to  understand 
them,  to  divine  the  deep  reasons  which  have  left  an 
impression  on  their  lives  and  beliefs.  They  have  never 
seen  in  me  a  mark  of  disdain  or  ridicule.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  have  always  been  able  to  feel  my  real  and 
active  sympathy  for  their  needs. 

Sarthe 

While  adding  a  small  sum  to  his  slender  income,  the 
schoolmaster  who  serves  as  town  clerk  unquestionably 
increases  his  prestige  in  the  community.  Though  he 
be  ever  so  little  conversant  with  his  duties,  he  never- 
theless quickly  becomes  indispensable  to  the  village, 
and  the  mayor  and  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  lo- 
cality consult  him  daily. 

Lot-et-Garonne 

One  teacher  founded  consecutively  a  savings  bank, 
a  school  lunchroom,  a  school  pharmacy,  a  museum, 
a  library,  a  society  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to 
animals,  a  temperance  society,  an  alumni  association, 
a  loan  fund  for  farmers,  a  farmers'  syndicate,  a  mutual 


202    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

fire-insurance  society,  and  a  cattle-insurance  society. 
Another  teacher  is  the  confidant  of  the  peasants. 

The  peasant,  surrounded  by  sharpers  who  prey 
upon  his  weakness  and  ignorance,  is  glad  to  have  some- 
body in  whom  to  confide.  He  becomes  devoted  body 
and  soul  to  the  schoolmaster  who  can  win  his  affection. 
He  makes  the  schoolmaster  his  counselor,  his  secretary, 
his  confidant.  Of  all  the  compensations  in  my  career, 
this  was  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  satisfactory. 
The  good  teacher  has  nothing  to  fear  from  pupils  or 
parents;  on  the  contrary,  he  derives  his  strength 
from  them. 

CORBEZE 

Another  teacher  devised  an  ingenious  means  of  in- 
creasing the  attendance.  Thanks  to  his  insistence,  a 
binder-reaper  was  purchased,  and  immediately  the 
children's  absences  became  less  protracted.  Next 
he  showed  them  how  it  is  possible  to  inclose  the  pas- 
tures with  artificial  briers  at  no  great  expense.  The 
cattle  then  need  no  tending,  and  the  children  are  free 
to  go  to  school.  This  very  simple  idea  shortly  met 
with  immense  success  and  gave  results  that  could 
not  have  been  brought  about  by  dozens  of  ministerial 
circulars. 

CORREZE 

If  we  wish  to  reform  the  present  way  of  living  and 
insure  progress,  the  example  must  come  from  some- 
where; and  where  should  it  come  from  if  not  from 
the  educators.?  To  present  ideals  of  work,  of  the 
simple  life,  of  earnest  devotion,  especially  to  country 
people  —  this  task  constitutes  our  principal  social  role. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  203 

At  Montauban  the  country  folk  came  to  visit  my 
garden  and  experiment  field,  and  tried  afterwards 
to  do  better  than  I.  Now  there  is  great  competition 
in  the  village  to  see  who  will  have  the  finest  garden. 
My  pupils  naturally  take  a  hand,  for  we  do  our  culti- 
vating together.  This  year  we  had  the  largest  yield 
of  wheat  in  the  commune  (32  hectoliters  per  hectare), 
and  I  am  prouder  of  the  result  than  if  my  pupils  had 
won  a  big  success  at  gaining  their  primary-school 
certificates  after  "digging"  for  two  months.  A  rich 
landholder  furnishes  us  the  fertilizer  gratuitously,  and 
the  laborer^ in  the  neighborhood  come  to  work  in  our 
experiment  field,  likewise  gratuitously. 

NiEVRE 

L ,  an  agricultural  canton,  is  dying  of  misery 


and  despair.  A  series  of  calamities  —  drought,  hail, 
aphthous  fever,  rot,  general  market  stagnation  and 
lowering  of  prices  —  has  brought  about,  first,  financial 
embarrassment  and  discouragement,  and  then  an 
exodus  toward  the  city.  In  the  short  space  of  fifteen 
years,  the  population  dropped  from  13,886  to  10,084 
inhabitants.  One  man,  by  untiring  tenacity  and  a 
convincing  faith,  inspired  the  people  with  courage, 
transformed  the  production,  restored  the  feeling  of 
security,  and  stopped  emigration  by  creating  a  farmers' 
syndicate  and  its  allied  organizations  and  by  organizing 
a  cattle-insurance  society. 

G ,  a  vineyard  center,  was  vegetating,  ruined 

thirty  years  ago  by  phylloxera,  and  subsequently 
aflSicted  by  pyralis,  cochylis,  and  other  non-parasitic 
diseases.     One  year  there  would  be  an  over-production. 


204    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

with  wine  selling  at  $2.00  per  hectoliter  (22  gallons) ; 
the  next  year  the  crop  would  be  an  utter  failure.  The 
establishment  of  a  nursery  for  grafted  plants,  lectures 
on  their  adaptation,  the  practice  of  soil  analysis,  the 
creation  of  a  local  loan  fund  and  a  cooperative  cellar, 
the  purchase  of  burners  and  pulverizers  by  the  com- 
mune, have  operated  to  increase  production,  regulate 
prices,  restore  confidence,  and  retain  the  population 
of  vine  growers. 

M ,  a  small  town,  contains  many  needy  house- 
holds. People  complain  of  the  cost  of  living  and  the 
bad  quality  of  provisions.  A  cooperative  movement 
has  been  organized  and  developed  to  such  an  extent 
that  in  a  couple  of  years  seven  hundred  homes  are 
cooperating  and  the  total  business  transacted  reaches 
a  million  francs.  Bread  is  sold  at  three  centimes 
below  the  municipal  rate,  other  products  are  sold 
proportionately  cheap,  although  of  irreproachable 
quality.  The  different  organizations  supplement  each 
other,  and  at  the  expiration  of  each  term  a  bonus  of 
eight  to  ten  per  cent  is  given  to  the  members.  This 
sum  is  very  welcome,  for  it  represents  the  greater  part 
of  the  rent. 

We  could  multiply  examples,  citing  the  model 
orchards  at  Ch and  at  P ,  the  mutual  fire-in- 
surance company  at  C ,  but  our  explanation  would 

invariably  be  the  same.     At  L ,  at  G ,  at  M 

the  man  to  whom  we  allude  is  the  teacher.  There  are, 
indeed,  few  townships  which  have  not  one  or  more 
flourishing  societies  for  which  the  initiative,  activity, 
and  continued  devotion  of  the  teacher  alone  are  re- 
sponsible.    Let  us  note,  therefore,  without  pride  but 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  205 

at  the  same  time  without  foolish  modesty,  the  part 
which  this  unobtrusive  government  employee  takes 
in  the  work  of  social  renovation,  which  is  going  on 
under  our  eyes  and  which  tends  more  and  more  to 
replace  narrow  individualism  by  the  principle  of  unity 

and  the  spirit  of  cooperation. 

Sa6ne-et-Loire 


It  is  my  ambition  to  live  in  the  children's  memory. 
I  should  like  to  make  their  school  days  the  sweetest 
time  of  their  lives,  a  time  which  they  could  not  think 
of  without  emotion.  We  do  not  deny  that  life  is  hard 
and  painful  for  certain  people.  When  we  think  of  the 
various  trials  and  difficulties  which  we  have  met  and 
which  others  must  face,  why  should  we  not  give  them 
the  only  thing  that  it  is  in  our  power  to  give  —  an 
education  that  satisfies  them,  and  is  at  the  same  time 
sound  and  capable  of  preparing  them  for  all  duties 
whatever  they  may  be,  an  education  whose  beneficent 

influence  will  follow  and  sustain  them  ? 

Var 

The  children  have  the  feeling  that  I  am  giving  them 
something  of  myself,  and  I  am  glad  of  it.  When  I  see 
their  eyes  fixed  on  mine ;  when  I  feel  their  little  hands 
touching  my  dress,  resting  on  my  knees,  holding  out 
to  me  a  faded  flower  plucked  by  the  wayside;  when 
a  mother  I  meet  says,  "Mademoiselle,  I  am  so  happy 
that  my  child  is  making  progress,"  I  cannot  express 
the  secret  joy  I  feel,  so  sweet  that  it  drives  away  the 
memory  of  the  little  daily  annoyances. 

X 


N.  BIZET 

N.  Bizet  (        -1909),  director  of  the  municipal  school,  rue  de  la 
Boulard,  Paris. 


THE  TEACHER  AND  THE  ADOLESCENT 

The  schoolmaster  derives  considerable  personal  ad- 
vantage from  the  "  counselorships "  that  are  every- 
where becoming  prevalent.  The  necessity  of  helping 
young  people  pursue  their  intellectual  development 
forces  him  to  study  the  great  questions  of  the  day, 
and  demands  his  effort  in  research  and  in  special  work 
which  he  might  not  otherwise  undertake.  Even  simple 
conversation  with  growing  boys  and  young  men,  each 
one  of  whom  has  specialized  in  a  certain  branch  of 
human  activity,  however  modest  it  may  be,  cannot 
help  being  extremely  profitable  to  a  mind  that  is  keen 
and  alert.  When  the  teacher  is  continually  coming 
in  contact  with  those  who  are  grappling  with  the  actual 
difficulties  of  life,  he  can  get  a  clearer  and  more  exact 
view  of  the  real  needs  of  childhood  and  the  direction 
the  education  of  his  pupils  should  take. 

In  the  children  confided  to  him  the  teacher  has  a 
vision  of  youths  who  will  later  come  of  their  own  ac- 
cord and  appeal  to  his  kindness  and  experience,  the 
young  men  of  the  future  who  for  a  long  time  to  come 
will  continue  to  gather  about  him.  Such  a  perspective 
has  a  most  salutary  influence  upon  all  concerned. 
Master  and  pupils  grow  nearer  one  another,  constraint 
disappears,  school  discipline  becomes  more  paternal, 
more  indulgent,  more  largely  human,  without,  how- 
ever, ceasing  to  be  firm.  School  authority  assumes  a 
special    character    before    unsuspected,    because    the 

206 


N.  BIZET  207 

master  feels  the  necessity  of  guaranteeing  its  eflBciency 
against  the  day  close  at  hand,  when,  though  freed 
from  all  obligation  toward  him,  his  former  pupils  will 
come  and  place  themselves  voluntarily  under  his 
guardianship.  He  knows  that  they  will  seek  this 
guardianship  only  on  condition  that  they  have  them- 
selves learned  to  appreciate  its  beneficent  influence. 

In  a  word,  the  school  is  thus  able  to  carry  out  the 
program  expressed  in  the  term,  "a  liberal  education." 
The  schoolmaster  derives  inestimable  moral  and  in- 
tellectual advantages  from  his  participation  in  this 
sort  of  work.  Each  day  he  becomes  more  truly  a  man 
and  an  educator.  In  contact  with  these  imspoiled 
young  people  of  the  lower  classes,  so  susceptible  to 
generous  sentiments,  so  full  of  good  faith  and  of  candor 
(even  in  our  Paris,  so  unjustly  brought  into  disrepute), 
he  feels  his  heart  grow  warm  and  rejuvenated. 


GABRIEL  SEAILLES 

Gabriel  Seailles  (1852-  ),  chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor, 
oflBcer  of  Public  Instruction,  professor  of  philosophy  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris.  Agrege  in  philosophy,  teacher  in  provincial  and 
Paris  lycees,  professor  at  the  Sorbonne  since  1898.  Author  of 
various  works  on  philosophy,  art,  biography,  and  education. 


THE   REAL  MEANING   OF   NON-SECTARIANISM  ^ 

I  CANNOT  tell  you  how  glad  I  am  that  by  virtue  of  his 
very  functions  the  schoolmaster  cannot  be  one  of  those 
sectarians  who  only  know  how  to  ridicule  the  beliefs 
of  others ;  that  his  most  imperative  duty  is  to  destroy 
error  and  superstition  by  substituting  truths  which 
make  these  impossible.  Thus  by  avoiding  all  criticism 
and  controversy,  by  holding  to  those  proofs  of  science 
and  the  conscience  which  deny  only  those  things  we 
can  no  longer  believe  sincerely,  the  schoolmaster  is 
master  of  the  future.  The  neutrality  of  the  school- 
master is  not  cold  indifference,  which  would  result  in 
a  narrow  type  of  instruction  bereft  of  educative  value, 
and  deprive  him  of  all  feeling  of  usefulness  as  well  as 
the  courage  necessary  to  face  his  hard  task.  The  school 
is  neutral  in  the  sense  that  it  is  not  negative,  or  ag- 
gressive, or  more  engrossed  in  combating  error  than  in 
building  up  truth,  neutral  also  in  the  peculiar  sense 
that  it  devotes  its  attention  to  what  unites  men  rather 
than  to  what  divides  them.  If  the  school  opposes 
falsehood,  fetichism,  and  intolerance,  it  does  so  solely 
by  imbuing  the  mind  with  moral  truths  which  no  one 
dares  question  openly,  even  though  he  be  only  waiting 
the  opportunity  and  the  power  to  violate  them. 

^  From  Education  ou  rivolution. 
208 


GABRIEL  SEAILLES  209 

The  non-sectarian  school  is  not  an  accident,  an 
artificial  creation  without  root  in  the  past.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  logically  historical,  and  it  is  in  line  with 
the  progress  of  science  and  the  human  conscience. 
Since  the  sixteenth  century,  by  the  application  of  pos- 
itive methods,  theology  has  been  replaced  by  a  non- 
sectarian  science  which  is  verified  and  justified  by  the 
greater  control  it  gives  man  over  nature.  Since  the 
Revolution,  national  unity  no  longer  rests  upon  sec- 
tarian unity,  and  this  implies  that  civil  society  finds  in 
itself,  in  its  own  conscience,  if  I  may  use  the  word,  the 
principles  \diich  permit  it  to  organize  and  to  main- 
tain itself.  Thus,  little  by  little,  the  new  idea  becomes 
clear  that  society  is  sufficient  unto  itself,  that  it  has 
its  own  meaning  and  values,  that  it  offers  to  the  ac- 
tivity of  men  an  ideal  which  has  real  worth  and  which 
can  harmonize  the  intelligence  and  the  will,  whatever 
may  be  the  religious  or  metaphysical  belief.  In  fact, 
the  idea  becomes  clear  that  society,  by  whose  means 
alone  man  truly  finds  himself,  is  capable  of  giving  and 
is  obliged  to  give  its  members  an  education  whose 
elements  are  based  upon  its  own  requirements  and  its 
own  aspirations. 


The  pedagogy  of  the  school  is  a  liberal  pedagogy, 
full  of  the  past,  pregnant  with  the  future.  Truth  is 
no  longer  diffused  and  transmitted  by  being  imposed, 
but  rather  by  being  proposed.  It  is  definitely  acquired 
only  when  it  creates  itself  anew  by  question  and  exam- 
ination, when  it  identifies  itself  with  the  intelligence 
in  which  it  becomes  a  vital  force,  so  that  it  may  go  far 
in  the  search  for  truth. 


210    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

A  necessary  element  of  social  life  and  one  limited  in 
its  ambition,  this  education  does  not  regard  things 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  eternal.  If  the  Church, 
as  Fichte  has  said,  "is  a  school  destined  to  train  cit- 
izens for  Heaven,"  our  non-sectarian  school  more 
modestly  wants  but  to  train  citizens  for  this  world. 
Far  from  preaching  contempt  for  the  present  life,  it 
endeavors  to  excite  interest  in  it  by  giving  it  a  mean- 
ing. The  school  would  be  satisfied  to  prepare  men 
capable  of  acting  here  below  and  of  accomplishing 
their  duty.  We  do  not  despise  nature,  nor  see  in  it 
the  source  of  all  sin.  We  see  in  it  the  occasion  and  the 
reason  as  well  as  the  material  for  our  activity ;  we  strive 
to  understand  it  in  order  to  dominate  it,  to  make  its 
laws  serve  our  purposes,  to  make  it  express  in  us  and 
around  us  the  unity  of  human  thought.  We  no  longer 
find  the  solution  of  all  the  diflSculties  of  our  present 
life  in  the  hypothesis  of  a  future  life,  which  excuses  us 
from  solving  these  difficulties  ourselves;  we  refuse  to 
resign  ourselves  to  evil  on  the  pretext  that  amends  will 
certainly  be  made  in  a  better  world;  we  study  the 
causes  of  evil  in  order  to  understand  and  suppress  it. 
Conscious  of  the  solidarity  which  relates  our  life  to  the 
lives  of  our  fellow  creatures,  we  do  not  isolate  ourselves 
in  the  thought  of  individual  salvation.  We  know  that 
our  salvation  is  bound  up  in  the  salvation  of  all  other 
men,  and  the  goal  of  our  hope  is  a  society  in  which 
no  man  could  fail  to  attain  the  dignity  of  the  reasonable, 
free  being. 

Thus  there  is  formed  in  us  the  idea  of  justice,  which, 
instead  of  delivering  men  over  to  the  hazards  of  a  deadly 
competition,  would  unite  them  in  fraternal  effort  to- 


GABRIEL  SfiAILLES  211 

ward  a  higher  Hfe.  This  determination  to  transmute 
science  into  power,  to  coerce  nature  into  the  service  of 
the  mind,  to  substitute  the  law  of  justice  for  the  law 
of  violence,  to  give  to  this  world  what  man  alone  can 
contribute,  gentleness  and  kindness,  this  entirely 
worldly  morality  does  not  seem  to  me  to  humiliate  the 
mind.  It  is  not  a  mean  task  finally  to  make  of  a  man 
what  he  pretends  to  be  in  essence,  namely,  a  reasonable 
being,  a  personality,  and  in  this  way  to  assure  the 
reign  of  peace  on  the  earth.  Our  adversaries  alternately 
declare  it  chimerical,  out  of  all  proportion  to  nature 
and  to  the  tvill  of  man,  then  commonplace,  vulgar,  in- 
suflScient  to  appease  the  thirst  for  the  infinite  with 
which  they  profess  to  be  tormented.  But  as  it  stands, 
this  ethics  of  work,  by  uniting  the  effort  of  the  in- 
dividual with  the  great  cooperative  work  which  sur- 
passes it,  gives  a  higher  meaning  to  life.  It  excludes 
no  one,  and  no  one  has  the  right  to  exclude  himself 
from  participation  in  it.  Far  from  being  the  sectarian 
spirit,  the  non-sectarian  spirit  is  opposed  to  the  spirit 
of  a  party,  of  a  Church.  It  draws  its  life  from  the 
truths  that  are  common  to  all ;  it  is  the  spirit  of  what- 
ever is  social,  universal,  and  human. 


ALFRED  MOULET 

Alfred  Moulet  (1870-1917),  agrege,  academy  inspector  of  the 
Vendee. 

PROGRAM  FOR  MORAL  EDUCATION  * 

Such  is  the  official  program  for  moral  instruction  in 
the  public  primary  school.  It  is  perfectly  clear.  Who- 
ever puts  the  non-sectarian  school  to  the  test,  whether 
he  praises  or  blames  it,  must  base  his  criticism  on  this 
program,  and  first  of  all  he  must  read  it  in  the  clear  in- 
tention of  its  promoters. 

A  mere  perusal  of  the  program  forces  the  following 
conviction  on  every  impartial  reader :  "  Considered  in 
connection  with  what  might  be  called  the  general  con- 
sensus of  French  opinion  in  1886,  it  advances  nothing 
new  in  moral  theory."  The  novel,  and  if  you  wish, 
the  revolutionary  character  of  its  teaching  lies  in  its 
non-sectarianism,  in  its  purpose  to  be  independent  of 
every  religious  system,  of  every  church.  There  is  no 
novelty  in  its  content  nor  in  the  substance  itself.  At 
that  date  it  retained  and  meant  to  bequeath  to  child- 
hood merely  the  vital  traditions  of  practically  all 
Frenchmen,  the  moral  habits  of  the  nation,  those 
customary  opinions  and  judgments,  those  truths  on 
which  families  were  united,  however  they  may  have 
divided  on  other  points. 

For  us  it  suffices  that  the  school  of  1882-1886, 
through  this  program  which  is  still  that  of  the  school  of 
1915,  should  have  desired  to  express  the  French  con- 
science in  its  most  universal  characteristics  at  a  given 
moment  in  history.     On  close  examination  it  will  be 

^  From  D*une  iducaiion  morale  dSmocraiique. 
212 


ALFRED  MOULET  213 

noted  that  the  program  of  1886  teaches  the  child  as  a 
social  morality  rather  than  as  an  individual ;  in  other 
words,  it  endeavors  to  develop  in  him  the  ability  to 
live  as  a  component  part  of  the  Republic.  This  social 
morality  which  the  official  program  analyzes  in  its 
principles,  least  disputed  and  most  likely  to  be  ac- 
cepted by  all,  is  the  morality  which  was  practiced  by 
all  honest  Frenchmen  of  that  time  and  which  was  in 
a  fashion  the  framework  of  their  lives  and  the  founda- 
tion of  their  consciences. 

The  above  program  does  not  offer  the  child  immu- 
table forms  of  duty,  express  commandments,  hypotheses 
that  are  to  hold  forever  on  the  subject  of  life  and  death ; 
it  does  not  propose  ready-made  moral  conceptions  that 
cannot  be  changed,  an  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  family, 
of  the  nation,  of  humanity,  or  of  God.  It  is  neither 
an  abstract  dogma  nor  a  catechetical  enumeration ;  it 
is  by  no  means  an  academic  or  sectarian  collection  of 
truths,  receipts,  and  practices,  authoritatively  taught 
by  the  major  to  the  minor,  by  the  master  to  the  pupil. 
It  is  not  a  scheme  which  endeavors  to  do  away  with 
social  and  moral  evolution  while  trying  to  preserve 
what  is  profitable  to  those  in  power,  and  to  perpetuate 
moral,  political,  economic,  and  social  forms. 

What  is  it,  then,  in  reality.?*  It  simply  reminds  the 
child  of  the  moral  tendency  common  to  honest  men,  to 
all  those  who  more  or  less  deliberately  think,  live,  and 
hope  according  to  law  and  according  to  duty.  It  re- 
minds him  of  the  habit,  instinctive  at  least  in  some 
degree  in  even  the  rudest  men,  of  reasoning  out  their 
actions,  of  the  characteristically  human  effort  to  bind 
all  moral  activity  and  the  entire  conscience  itself  to  an 


214    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

ideaL  Fundamentally,  therefore,  it  is  not  this  or  that 
duty  which  the  primary  school  teaches  the  child  to  the 
exclusion  of  certain  others.  Properly  speaking,  it  does 
not  choose  arbitrarily  the  rules  of  life;  it  strengthens 
and  develops  in  the  child  the  moral  sense,  the  sense  of 
duty,  the  sense  of  law  and  of  virtue.  Close  examina- 
tion will  prove  that  the  details  of  this  program  are 
but  an  illustration  of  a  single  precept,  acceptable  to 
all  without  distinction :  to  live  as  a  thinking  being,  to 
progress  in  conformity  to  a  moral  ideal  and  a  lofty 
ambition.  Only  he  who  would  pretend  to  live  free 
from  restraint,  according  to  his  caprice  and  fancy, 
could  protest  against  a  school  which  disciplines  the 
child.  The  political  law  does  not  recognize  the  right 
to  anarchy  in  republican  society;  it  cannot  recognize 
it  in  the  republican  school.  The  Republic,  founded 
upon  order,  wishes  the  school  to  teach  the  child  at 
least  the  republican  order,  without,  however,  com- 
promising the  future. 

The  non-sectarian  school  is  not  the  work  of  a  few 
advanced  thinkers  imposed  upon  a  docile  country. 
They  would  not  have  been  able  to  create  anything  en- 
during if  the  French  conscience  had  not  been  ready  to 
follow  them.  This  is  what  the  adversaries  of  our  school 
do  not  wish  to  understand,  cannot  understand,  or  are 
anxious  to  conceal  from  those  whom  they  direct.  Cer- 
tainly they  have  the  right  to  attempt  a  reaction  ac- 
cording to  their  own  preferences.  They  have  no  right 
to  believe,  nor  even  to  allow  it  to  be  believed,  that  the 
creation  of  the  non-sectarian  school  was  the  coup  de 
force  of  an  audacious  minority.  The  non -sectarian 
school  has  come  because  the  nation  wished  it.     The 


ALFBED  MOULET  215 

program  of  moral  instruction,  long  prophesied,  con- 
ceived, and  hoped  for,  was  in  the  traditions  of  France 
as  she  marched  forward  toward  her  republican  aspira- 
tions. This  program  is  not  only  the  conscious  effort 
of  the  men  who  gave  the  school  a  new  mission  —  that 
of  laying  the  foundation  of  social  peace  through  ele- 
mentary instruction ;  it  is  the  expression  of  the  repub- 
lican conscience  in  1882.  If  the  school  has  since  in- 
dorsed and  clarified  this  conscience,  we  must  give 
France  the  credit. 

M.  Ferdinand  Buisson,  in  a  lecture  at  Rodz  in  1911, 
said : 

If  our  adversaries  were  willing  to  understand  the  profound 
appeal  of  those  non-sectarian  schools,  instead  of  attacking  us  with 
a  harshness  that  amounts  at  times  to  ferocity,  they  would  be  tempted 
to  say,  "We  have  here  only  a  radiant  unfolding  of  the  Christian 
idea!"  Who  gave  this  formula  to  men,  "Ye  are  all  brethren"? 
Who  made  men  understand  that  they  should  love  one  another  in 
order  to  work  out  their  destiny?  Who  diffused  these  ideas,  so 
beautiful,  so  superb  ?  Who,  if  not  the  Evangelists  ?  Indeed,  those 
who  attack  us  might  truthfully  say:  "You  are  disciples  of  the 
Gospel  without  knowing  it!  What  you  are  doing  is  in  another 
way  the  work  of  the  Church  which  you  extend  to  all  society !  You 
dream  of  extending  this  Gospel  to  all  men;  you  desire  this  fra- 
ternity not  for  the  members  of  one  Church,  but  for  all  society!" 
In  the  same  way  that  the  Christians  are  heirs  of  the  Greeks,  the 
Egyptians,  and  the  Hindoos,  we  are  heirs  of  all  those  who  have 
worked  to  build  up  human  morality  and  have  handed  down  to  us 
the  principles  which  we  cannot  do  without. 

In  this  sense  the  French  school  is  the  most  human 
of  schools,  the  most  careful  of  moral  tradition,  the  one 
which  creates  most  confidence  in  the  progress  of  reason. 


EDOUARD  PETIT 

Edouard  Petit  (1858-  ),  Oflacer  of  Public  Instruction, 
chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  agrege,  teacher  in  provincial 
and  Paris  lycees,  general  inspector  of  public  instruction  since  1899. 
He  has  published  most  interesting  reports  on  extension  teaching, 
on  classes  for  adults,  and  on  various  other  extra-school  activities. 

MARRIAGES  BETWEEN  TEACHERS  ^ 

ISIarriages  of  men  and  women  teachers  are  generally 
happy.  Similarity  of  birth,  tastes,  and  professional 
interests  naturally  binHs  them  together.  Although 
they  may  insure  their  own  happiness,  they  do  not  al- 
ways contribute  to  that  of  the  academy  inspectors, 
who  are  often  at  a  loss  to  find  positions  in  the  same 
community  for  conjugally  imited  teachers.  How  fre- 
quently on  the  eve  of  the  annual  readjustment  do 
these  inspectors  have  to  bend  over  their  checkerboards  ! 
How  many  tortuous  and  scientific  combinations  the 
chief  of  service  has  to  work  out  in  order  to  bring  co- 
workers together  in  the  school  who  have  been  united 
in  the  courthouse ! 

Such  marriages  are  usually  contracted  early  in  life. 
Sometimes  the  young  people  come  from  the  same  vil- 
lage, but  more  often  from  the  same  canton.  Their 
families  are  acquainted,  or  else  the  young  people  have 
made  each  other's  acquaintance  in  the  chief  town  of 
the  department  during  their  stay  at  the  normal  school. 
It  is  a  vain  precaution  to  locate  the  normal  schools  of 
the  young  men  and  the  young  women  at  opposite  sides 
of  the  same  city.  I  have  often  asked  myself  the  reason, 
or  rather  I  have  noted  with  regret  that  contrary  to  all 
geometrical   laws,    parallel   classes   meet   each   other. 

*  From  La  vie  scolaire,  pages  337  et  seq. 
216 


EDOUARD  PETIT  217 

The  walks  the  young  people  take  provide  occasions  for 
seeing  each  other ;  the  holidays  also,  as  well  as  the  de- 
partures from  and  the  returns  to  the  station,  are 
equally  favorable,  although  all  administrative  precau- 
tions are  solemnly  and  uselessly  taken.  I  really  should 
not  see  any  harm  in  bringing  together  these  workers  in 
the  same  vineyard,  in  letting  the  two  educational  es- 
tablishments exchange  invitations,  but  the  rules  are 
all  against  it.  Fortunately,  however,  the  alumni  re- 
union amiably  completes  what  the  school  started  very 
much  in  spite  of  itself.  The  reunion  is  followed  by  a 
banquet  and  crowned  by  a  ball.  At  the  ball  affinities 
are  discovered,  and  sometimes  vows  are  exchanged. 

The  chance  meeting,  however,  is  not  entirely  re- 
sponsible. Sometimes  flashes  of  a  continuous  and 
intense  current  have  preceded  the  matrimonial  thun- 
derbolt. Friendships  started  on  the  benches  of  the 
village  school  have  ripened  into  stronger  sentiments. 
It  even  happens  that  pedagogical  idylls  —  let  us  not 
be  too  hard  on  them  —  frequently  become  realities. 
Only  the  other  day  I  heard  of  a  certain  normal  student 
who,  as  soon  as  he  was  appointed  to  a  school,  patiently 
and  charmingly  prepared  his  fiancee  for  her  higher 
certificate,  helped  her  win  it,  and  then  won  her  hand. 
The  youth  of  our  lower  classes  are  indeed  forced  to 
become  serious.  Times  are  changing.  Yesterday  Paul 
helped  Virginia  cross  a  brook  by  stepping  from  stone 
to  stone.  Today  he  would  be  assisting  her  over  snares 
and  precipices  in  order  to  help  her  through  her  ex- 
aminations. It  is  less  poetic,  but  what  can  one  do? 
We  are  progressing.  At  any  rate  the  intellectual  union 
does  not  preclude  that  of  the  heart. 


218    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

The  proof  is  that  these  couples  are  usually  closely 
united.  Husband  and  wife  work  side  by  side,  with 
the  same  interests  in  life  and  the  same  ideals.  They 
advise  each  other,  help  each  other,  and  hghten  each 
other's  work.  Studying  by  twos  becomes  a  joy.  It 
loses  its  monotony,  and  there  are  no  financial  cares. 
Combining  two  salaries  makes  possible  certain  little 
economies,  the  founding  of  a  family,  and  the  proper 
bringing  up  of  children  who  will  be  a  credit  to  the 
father  and  the  mother.  I  have  known  many  sons  and 
daughters  of  school  teachers,  and  I  have  noticed  that 
they  succeed  in  making  a  place  for  themselves  in  the 
sun,  thanks  to  their  knowledge  and  their  ardor  for 
work.  The  names  of  the  sons  of  teachers  who  have 
made  their  mark  in  literature,  in  science,  and  in  indus- 
try would  fill  a  long  list.  In  certain  departments  there 
are,  so  to  speak,  dynasties  of  teachers  whose  "cer- 
tificates" are  titles  of  nobility. 

It  rarely  happens  that  married  teachers  fail  to  re- 
main a  long  time  in  the  village  or  town  to  which  they 
have  been  appointed.  The  home  binds  them  to  the 
school.  The  school  gains  stability  through  a  long 
and  well-ordered  administration.  No  more  "pulling 
up"  and  moving ;  no  more  "tramp"  teachers ;  no  more 
fickleness.  The  couples  take  to  heart  the  interests  of 
the  commune  where  they  have  loved  each  other,  where 
their  children  were  bom,  and  to  which  the  children 
have  in  their  turn  become  attached. 

They  see  the  classes  of  pupils  they  have  taught 
grow  up.  They  are  surrounded  by  esteem  and  gen- 
uine affection.  Why  should  they  go  elsewhere,  ex- 
cept those  who  are  aspiring  to  important  principalships 


EDOUARD  PETIT  219 

in  the  big  cities,  to  begin  life  over  again,  change  their 
habits,  and  adapt  themselves  to  new  economic  and 
social  environment,  the  knowledge  of  which  would  re- 
quire new  efforts? 

They  prefer,  and  rightly  so,  to  advance  "on  the 
spot."  They  also  prefer  the  consideration  and  influ- 
ence which  are  acquired  through  persistent  service 
and  which  assume  a  character  of  serious  tenderness  as 
the  years  pass.  They  become  well-informed  advisers 
who  are  consulted  on  serious  occasions.  They  settle 
differences.  Happy,  they  spread  happiness  around 
them.  Frofii  day  to  day  they  gain  a  moral  influence 
which  circumstances  strengthen  and  which  passes 
quietly  and  imperceptibly  into  the  school  and  into  the 
non-sectarian  parsonage.  Of  course  there  are  persons 
who  cannot  pardon  the  influence  of  these  country  "in- 
tellectuals," but  their  influence  persists  and  will  per- 
sist tomorrow  in  still  greater  degree. 

THE   MUTUAL   BENEFIT   ASSOCIATION   IN   THE 

SCHOOL  1 

The  school  mutual  benefit  association  is  direct  appli- 
cation of  the  spirit  of  the  solidarity  which  for  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century  has  been  developing  in  the  pri- 
mary schools  of  France.  This  new  doctrine  which  has 
been  cultivating  new  ground  has  reaped  unexpected 
harvests. 

The  benefit  association  makes  it  possible  for  children 
to  help  themselves  and  at  the  same  time  to  help  other 

1  This  summary  was  written  expressly  for  this  volume  by  M.  Edouard 
Petit.     For  a  more  detailed  account,  see  La  vie  scolaire,  pages  273  et  seq. 


220    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

children.  The  little  boy  or  girl  affiliated  with  the  as- 
sociation pays  dues  of  ten  centimes  (two  cents)  per 
week,  of  which  five  are  devoted  to  the  general  relief 
fund  and  five  are  added  to  his  own  personal  deposit 
toward  a  pension,  his  reserve  capital.  In  case  of  ill- 
ness, the  member  receives  a  daily  indemnity  of  fifty 
centimes  for  one  month.  This  indemnity  may  be  pro- 
longed for  a  second  month,  but  it  is  reduced  to  twenty- 
five  centimes  per  day. 

The  association,  which  was  organized  by  its  ingen- 
ious founder,  J.  C.  Cave,  in  a  working  men's  district 
of  Paris  (La  Villette)  in  1887,  numbered  in  1894-1895 
some  10,000  children.  By  1914  its  membership  had  in- 
creased to  875,000  children  and  100,000  adolescents 
grouped  in  special  sections.  At  ten  centimes  per 
week,  the  apprentice  shareholders  turn  in  more  than 
five  million  francs  a  year  for  their  retiring  pensions  or 
for  mutual  relief.  They  pay  out  one  million  francs  a 
year  to  sick  children,  and  the  reserve  fund  exceeds 
fifty  millions. 

The  association  attracts  children  from  all  walks  of 
life.  Among  its  branches  are  (a)  the  school  benefit 
association,  composed  of  the  pupils  of  the  lycees  and 
colleges  and  the  pupils  of  the  primary  schools;  (b)  a 
benefit  association  which  enrolls  foundlings,  the  greater 
number  of  whom  could  join  the  association  if  their 
guardians  were  not  hampered  by  complicated  ad- 
ministrative and  financial  rules ;  and  (c)  the  forest 
benefit  association,  which  devotes  its  efforts  to  the 
problem  of  reforesting  bare  hillsides. 

The  school  benefit  association  is  the  best-known  and 
most  popular  institution  through  which  social  educa- 


EDOUARD  PETIT  221 

tion  is  organized  and  strengthened  in  the  school.  In 
1906  it  expanded  into  a  "National  Union  of  School 
and  Family  Mutual  Benefit  Associations,"  and  it  is 
having  greater  and  greater  success.  Its  progress  is 
easily  explained.  It  permeates  the  school  and  is  a 
living,  convincing  lesson  in  cooperative  ethics.  It  is 
of  a  practical,  tangible  nature.  It  strengthens  the 
influence  of  the  teacher,  who  fills  a  social  role,  at  the 
same  time  that  it  trains  the  social  sense  of  his  pupils. 
It  thus  has  an  educational  value  quite  apart  from  its 
financial  advantages. 

At  first  restricted  to  the  primary  school,  it  has  since 
been  extended  to  include  pupils  in  lycees  and  colleges ; 
it  has  taken  in  foundlings  (in  seventy  departments,  in- 
cluding the  Seine) ;  and  it  has  introduced  itseM  into 
the  alumni  associations  in  the  form  of  the  Adolescent 
Benefit  Association,  wherever  the  mutual  benefit  as- 
sociations do  not  include  women  among  their  members. 
It  establishes  a  bond  of  common  interest  among  all 
the  societies  included  within  its  membership,  amal- 
gamates them,  and  cements  them  into  a  unified  whole. 

The  association  extends  outside  the  limits  of  the 
school.  It  is  restricted  preferably  to  the  canton,  al- 
though it  may  extend  to  the  arrondissement,  or  even 
the  department,  thereby  establishing  the  solidarity  of 
productive  effort  among  the  schools.  The  association, 
which  is  very  flexible,  lends  itself  to  the  most  varied 
and  original  experiments.  "Cave's  Little  Ones,"  as 
these  organizations  are  familiarly  called  in  memory  of 
their  founder,  combine  preventive  hygiene  with  their 
other  activities.  They  devote  a  part  of  their  surplus 
to  sending  colonies  of  weak  and  anemic  children  on 


222    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

long  vacations,  and  to  supporting  open-air  schools 
similar  to  the  one  founded  at  Montigny-sur-Loing  near 
the  forest  of  Fontainebleau.  One  hundred  and  fifty 
members  were  sent  to  the  Mutualiste  Nest  in  1913  by 
the  united  societies  of  three  Parisian  arrondissements. 
The  war  has  not  interrupted  this  branch  of  their 
activity.  In  1915-1916  three  hundred  sickly  children 
were  sent  to  the  forest  colony. 

"The  seed  is  becoming  scarce,"  said  Pasteur,  in 
speaking  of  children.  "Let  us  save  the  seed!"  The 
school  mutual  benefit  association  strives  to  save  the 
seed.  It  makes  sure  of  the  "capital  of  health,"  the 
guarantee  of  the  pension-capital. 

The  war  has  made  it  possible  for  the  child  members 
of  the  association  whom  the  invasion  spared  to  give 
fraternal  relief  to  the  child  members  that  have  suffered 
in  the  country  occupied  by  the  enemy.  The  idea 
originated  among  the  Belgian  members  and  has  spread 
from  school  to  school  throughout  France.  The  chil- 
dren have  refused  to  divide  the  surplus  accruing  each 
year,  and  when  hostihties  cease  they  will  send  to  their 
comrades  in  the  invaded  districts  the  sums  they  are 
now  saving  up  for  them.  Already  400,000  francs  have 
been  set  aside  and  will  constitute  the  offering  of  the 
members  to  those  children  who  during  long  months 
have  suffered  the  hardships  of  invasion. 

The  school  mutual  benefit  association  is  not  unknown 
outside  France.  Its  power  of  expansion  is  such  that 
school  societies  of  this  character  are  being  formed  in 
Belgium,  in  Italy,  and  in  a  part  of  Switzerland. 


EDOUARD  PETIT  223 


SCHOOL  EXCURSIONS 


I  WISH  to  indorse  most  heartily  this  new  and  attrac- 
tive branch  of  your  work,  which  you  have  so  aptly 
named  "school  excursions,"  and  which  has  as  its  dis- 
tinctive characteristic  the  fact  that  it  originated  in 
and  belongs  to  the  school. 

These  excursions  constitute  a  veritable  school  of 
travel,  and  how  attractive  and  unique  a  school !  The 
inspiration  was  prompted  by  necessity.  It  supple- 
ments the  regular  school,  and  it  will  surely  develop 
and  render  valuable  service  to  thousands  of  children. 
Thanks  to  your  school  excursions,  school  boys  and  girls 
know  how  to  prepare  for  a  trip,  how  to  economize  their 
time  and  strength,  how  to  observe  accurately  and 
opportunely,  how  to  record  their  impressions  neatly 
and  describe  them  exactly.  These  excursions  foster  a 
healthy  rivalry  among  the  pupils,  for  one  can  gain  a 
position  on  the  honor  roll  only  if  after  a  hard  struggle 
one  has  won  the  primary  certificate  with  the  mention 
"very  good." 

They  serve  as  a  means  of  solidarity,  since  the  candi- 
dates for  the  excursions  pay  a  voluntary  contribution 
of  ten  centimes  each  for  the  benefit  of  the  most  deserving 
of  their  comrades.  They  likewise  provide  a  lesson  in 
geography  that  is  vital  and  picturesque,  and  they  make 
us  envy  your  "beloved  country,"  your  Mame,  proud  of 
her  historic  past  which  sums  up  the  history  of  the 
nation  as  a  whole,  proud  of  her  vineyards,  proud  of 
her  industries.     They  associate  the  love  of  travel  with 

^  Passages  taken  from  an  address  given  at  Reims,  July,  1904,  at  the 
AssembUe  generale  des  voyages  scolaires. 


224    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

the  feeling  one  should  have  for  one's  birthplace,  for 
they  permit  your  young  members  to  visit  the  Aisne, 
the  Ardennes,  a  part  of  the  Meuse  and  the  Oise,  as 
well  as  Versailles  and  Paris.  They  have  even  sent 
your  wards  and  your  ideas  across  the  frontier  to  visit 
our  neighbors  the  Belgians. 

Your  school  excursions  provide  an  opportunity  for 
exercising  the  right  of  franchise.  It  is  the  vote  of  the 
electors  which  chooses  the  members  of  the  party.  You 
are  initiating  future  citizens  into  the  mystery  of  the 
ballot.  As  apostles  of  a  progressive  feminism  look- 
ing to  the  future  of  the  country,  you  confer  the  elec- 
toral privilege  upon  the  schoolgirls  who,  having  had  a 
foretaste  of  it  in  childhood,  will  doubtless  not  be  will- 
ing to  give  it  up  when  they  have  grown  to  maturity. 
Boys  and  girls  run  to  the  ballot  box  in  eager  rivalry. 
One  boy  writes :  "  The  procedure  is  absolutely  true  to 
life.  The  pupils  know  each  other  well.  If  the  teacher 
himself  chose  the  one  to  make  the  trip,  other  boys  might 
be  jealous."  A  little  girl  writes :  "If  it  were  the  most 
learned  pupil  in  the  school  who  made  the  trip,  it  would 
not  always  be  the  best  comrade."  And  in  the  cleverly 
written  article  which  appeared  over  the  signature  of 
M.  Andre  in  the  Revue  pidagogique,  I  find  this  passage 
worthy  of  our  consideration  : 

Our  embryo  electors  conducted  themselves  admirably.  They 
gave  evidence  of  soundness  of  judgment  and  a  disinterestedness 
which  might  well  serve  as  an  example  to  our  political  electors. 
Very  few  children  gave  away  their  votes,  and  many  of  them  ob- 
tained the  required  majority  on  the  first  ballot. 

Gentlemen,  your  work  has  been  in  progress  for  five 
years.     It   has   benefited    1311    children    through   its 


EDOUARD  PETIT  225 

activity.  It  has  spent  20,000  francs  usefully.  It  has 
been  able  to  draw  about  the  school  more  than  2000 
friends  and  collaborators.  It  has  the  support  of  the 
town  and  district  governments.  May  it  cease  to  be 
local ;  may  it  become  national,  and  spread  throughout 
the  schools  of  France ! 

At  the  present  time  the  school  needs  to  popularize 
itself  through  service.  It  must  ally  itself  with  the 
family  and  draw  support  from  the  town.  It  builds 
up;  it  educates;  but  it  has  a  more  difficult  and  at 
the  same  time  a  more  general  task  to  perform.  It  must 
become  a  s6cial  center,  open  to  those  children  who 
should  enjoy  the  advantages  of  kindergartens,  lunch- 
rooms, workrooms,  and  manual  training,  open  to  those 
young  people  for  whom  it  should  provide  night  schools, 
lectures,  readings,  opportunity  for  social  meetings,  and 
those  gatherings  which  bring  together  in  the  evening 
fathers,  mothers,  and  young  people,  all  united  in  grati- 
tude toward  the  teachers  and  educators  of  the  people. 

The  school,  the  non-sectarian  school,  will  be  great 
and  strong  only  if  we  complete  and  support  it  by  sup- 
plementary activities  of  this  sort,  and  if  we  win  for  it 
through  persistent  effort  the  influence  that  springs 
from  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  social  whole. 


CHARLES  WAGNER 

Charles  Wagner  (1851-  ),  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Church, 
author,  lecturer. 

THE  LESSON  OF  THE  AX  AND  THE  KEY^ 

The  famous  story-teller  Andersen  had  the  priceless 
gift  of  hearing  dumb  objects  speak.  One  day  an  old 
street  lantern  tells  him  its  reminiscences ;  another 
day,  entering  a  silent  kitchen  at  twilight,  he  hears  the 
kettle  and  the  coffee  pot  confiding  in  each  other.  If 
we  only  knew  how  to  listen  well,  we  should  often  hear 
very  curious  things. 

Li  order  to  help  me  show  you  the  manner  in  which 
we  should  treat  our  fellow  creatures,  I  have  brought 
with  me  today  two  objects.  The  first  is  an  ax,  and 
the  second  is  a  key.  These  objects  are  no  more  able 
to  speak  than  is  an  old  street  lantern  or  a  venerable 
coffee  pot.  Nevertheless,  they  will  tell  you  many 
things  that  will  make  it  easier  for  you  to  grasp  what 
I  wish  to  explain.  When  you  have  left  here,  these 
two  objects  will  have  fixed  certain  ideas  in  your  mem- 
ory. 

What  is  an  ax  used  for?  For  splitting  wood,  is  it 
not.f*  Suppose  I  want  to  prepare  a  meal.  First,  I 
shall  have  to  light  the  fire.  To  keep  up  the  fire  I 
have  only  a  great  block  of  wood.  It  will  never  bum, 
neither  will  it  go  into  the  stove.  The  ax  will  help  me 
split  it  in  pieces.  What  would  you  say  if  I  should  try 
to  use  the  key  in  order  to  split  this  wood  ?  You  would 
think  I  had  lost  my  mind  completely.  But  would  you 
conclude  that  a  key  is  a  useless  and  stupid  implement  ? 

*  From  A  travers  le  prisme  du  temps,  1912. 
226 


CHARLES  WAGNER  227 

Certainly  not.  Only,  a  key  is  used  for  something  else. 
Although  a  key  is  incapable  of  splitting  this  block  of 
wood,  yet  it  will  wind  a  watch,  or  it  will  open  a  door, 
a  safe,  or  a  padlock.  Your  watch  has  stopped.  It 
needs  winding.  Will  you  take  an  ax  for  this  delicate 
work  ?  What  can  an  ax  do  toward  starting  the  mechan- 
ism of  a  watch?  Absolutely  nothing.  It  could  only 
damage  or  destroy  the  watch. 

For  every  kind  of  work  a  tool  is  necessary.  There 
is  work  that  demands  force,  and  brutal  and  violent 
methods.  There  is  another  kind  which  requires  deli- 
cacy and  dexterity.  The  ax  is  a  rough  tool ;  the  key 
is  finer  and  more  compHcated.  Remember  this,  in 
dealing  with  your  fellow  creatures. 

Violence  has  slight  hold  on  man.  You  may  pro- 
duce certain  results  with  it,  but  not  those  you  desire, 
or  at  least  those  you  ought  to  desire.  Where  man  is 
concerned,  do  not  go  about  things  with  the  ax  but 
with  the  key,  that  is  to  say,  with  persuasion,  that  in- 
telligent and  fraternal  influence  by  means  of  which 
good  will  and  confidence  are  gained.  In  delicacy  of 
structure  no  mechanism  equals  the  mind  of  man;  in 
comparison  with  the  human  soul,  the  finest  watch  is 
a  coarse  contrivance.  Too  often  we  treat  our  fellow 
creatures  without  respect,  without  understanding  the 
noble  sentiments,  thoroughly  worthy  of  our  respect, 
that  each  one  carries  within  him.  We  act  upon  them 
like  the  brutal  ax  which  wounds,  bruises,  disorganizes, 
and  then  we  complain  of  their  worthlessness  as  of  the 
watch  that  will  not  run.  Why  do  we  not  have  recourse 
to  the  finer  tools  .^^  He  who  tries  to  obtain  something 
from  man  by  violence  cannot  know  him.     Violence 


228    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

counts  upon  fear;  it  presumes  to  obtain  everything 
through  terror,  which  is  evil  and  can  produce  nothing 
good.  To  be  sure,  one  can  obtain  results  from  fright, 
threats,  or  blows.  But  what  are  these  results,  and 
how  long  do  they  last?  Those  who  resort  to  violence 
in  order  to  govern  us  do  not  know  the  best  that  is  in 
us.  Like  vicious  gardeners  who  sow  the  ground  with 
briers  and  thistles,  they  cultivate  the  worst  in  man. 
Are  gardens  made  to  give  crops  of  nettles,  of  thistles, 
and  of  briers.'^ 

Neither  is  man  made  to  produce  the  fruits  of  violence 
and  tyranny,  which  are  slavish  obedience,  forced  labor, 
feigned  submission,  with  all  the  hypocrisy,  the  hate, 
and  the  revolt  that  constraint  involves.  I  repeat  it; 
the  best  in  man  is  not  known.  We  see  in  him  only 
the  slave  that  we  can  drive  with  a  cudgel,  but  we  do 
not  see  in  him  the  free  being,  rich  in  good  will,  affec- 
tionate and  fraternal,  the  noble  and  benevolent  spirit 
from  which  the  best  results  can  be  gained  only  through 
the  confidence  that  awakens  confidence,  the  disinter- 
estedness that  creates  disinterestedness.  To  subject 
man  to  our  will  through  violence  is  after  all  a  mere 
aberration,  a  crime  against  justice,  against  human 
nature,  and  against  God  who  created  man  for  liberty. 
One  should  seek  the  good  will  which,  like  a  hidden 
treasure  often  unknown  even  to  oneself,  each  one 
carries  within  him. 

Listen  well  to  this,  and  never  forget  it.  A  man,  a 
woman,  a  child,  the  first  comer,  the  one  who  in  ap- 
pearance may  only  awaken  your  contempt,  as  well  as 
the  most  gifted  among  us,  is  like  unto  a  fortress.  No 
citadel  built  by  architects  and  masons  is  so  solid,  for 


CHARLES  WAGNER  229 

after  all  an  ordinary  citadel  is  never  impregnable.  It 
can  be  carried.  But  the  citadel  that  each  one  of  us 
carries  in  his  heart  and  in  his  soul  is  not  to  be  taken 
by  violence.  No  force  can  prevail  against  the  mind. 
One  may  torture  us,  oppress  us,  cut  us  in  pieces ;  one 
cannot  force  us  to  will,  or  to  think,  or  to  love  what  we 
do  not  will,  and  think,  and  love  freely.  In  this  con- 
sists our  native  nobility.  It  is  not  well  enough  recog- 
nized ;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  man  descends  to 
the  point  of  using  force.  In  both  cases,  however,  what 
he  obtains  and  what  he  gives  are  nothing. 

Let  us  resume  our  comparison  of  the  ax  and  the  key, 
as  well  as  that  of  the  citadel  to  which  we  are  comparing 
man.  The  first  result  of  an  attack  upon  a  stronghold 
is  that  its  doors  are  closed,  even  before  you  approach. 
Before  you  are  ramparts,  trenches,  raised  drawbridges. 
Cannon  are  pointed  through  the  embrasures ;  soldiers 
are  watching  in  the  casemates,  with  weapons  ready. 
Just  so  is  man  when  you  approach  him  by  force.  His 
mind  shuts  up  and  bristles;  he  prepares  all  his  re- 
sources in  order  to  do  you  as  much  damage  as  possible. 
His  face  is  like  the  threatening  ramparts  behind  which 
the  enemy  is  entrenched.  The  ax  comes  down  in  vain 
on  the  iron  doors ;  they  will  not  open. 

But  if  you  have  the  key,  or  if  you  approach  as  a 
friend,  the  gates  grind  on  their  steel  hinges  and  make 
way  for  you.  Furthermore,  while  from  without  you 
can  see  only  dismal  stones  and  towers  bristling  with 
pikes,  within  you  find  warmth  and  welcome.  If  the 
fortress  is  vast,  discoveries  and  surprises  await  you. 
There  are  gardens  in  the  sun,  wherein  are  strawberries 
reddening   in   their   beds,    while  pears   are   assuming 


230    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

golden  hues  on  the  trellises  built  against  the  walls. 
All  this  is  offered  you,  for  you  come  as  a  friend. 

Thus  we  must  treat  man  as  a  friend.  Do  not  ap- 
proach him  as  an  adversary,  a  brigand,  with  raised  ax, 
but  as  a  kindly  companion  with  hand  outstretched. 
Discover  the  way  to  his  heart;  find  the  key  to  it; 
leam  the  entrance  to  the  inner  life  of  each  one.  Make 
yourself  loved  and  not  feared.  Be  patient,  and  per- 
sistent in  using  the  fraternal  measures  of  equity  and 
justice.  Then  in  place  of  blows  or  obstinate  resist- 
ance, you  will  meet  good  will,  friendship,  sincerity,  in 
fact  all  the  good  and  noble  qualities  which  He  hidden 
in  the  heart  of  every  man. 

Do  not  forget  the  lesson  of  the  ax  and  the  key,  and 
when  you  have  occasion  to  approach  your  fellow  crea- 
tures, use  the  key  first.  Take  the  ax  rarely,  and  then 
only  if  no  other  means  remains. 

IN  THE  LAND  OF  "JUST  ABOUT" 

If  every  one  does  not  like  traveling  because  of  the 
annoyances  that  go  with  it,  there  are  nevertheless  few 
people  who  do  not  enjoy  accounts  of  travels.  Children 
especially  love  to  listen  to  stories  of  the  adventures 
that  happen  to  explorers  in  far-away  and  mysterious 
lands.  Now  I  have  just  made  a  long  trip  through  a 
territory  inhabited  by  queer  people,  and  I  shall  tell 
you  what  I  saw. 

I  had  often  heard  of  the  land  of  Just  About.  Con- 
cluding that  the  best  way  to  get  an  idea  of  its  inhab- 
itants and  their  ways  was  to  go  to  their  coimtry,  I 
packed  my  grip,  took  some  money,  a  stout  stick,  my 


CHAKLES  WAGNER  «S1 

watch,  and  a  box  of  good-humor  lozenges.  These 
lozenges  are  an  excellent  thing  to  take  when  you  are 
traveling,  in  case  unpleasant  circumstances  should 
occur.  If  you  leave  them  behind,  you  run  the  risk  of 
having  a  dull  time. 

Crossing  the  country  where  two  and  two  make  four, 
where  perpendicular  lines  stand  erect  on  their  hori- 
zontals, where  noon  is  the  middle  of  the  day,  where 
yes  is  yes  and  no  is  no,  I  arrived  finally  at  a  frontier. 

To  tell  the  truth,  it  was  not  a  really,  truly  frontier. 
Indeed,  nobody  has  ever  found  it  possible  to  settle  the 
boundary  of  the  country  of  Just  About.  No  one  knows 
precisely  where  it  begins  or  where  it  ends.  This,  too, 
is  unfortunate,  for  the  citizens  of  the  land  of  Just  About y 
not  having  very  definite  frontiers,  are  perpetually  quar- 
reling with  their  neighbors.  They  live  with  them  on  a 
footing  which  one  cannot  call  a  belligerent  footing  be- 
cause they  rarely  have  real  wars,  and  for  a  very  good 
reason.  Their  army  only  just  about  exists.  Their 
military  chiefs  are  generals,  if  you  insist.  But,  after 
all,  they  are  only  sorts  of  generals  who  know  just  about 
how  to  command,  and  to  counterbalance  this  are  just 
about  ignorant  of  strategy,  geography,  and  everything 
that  pertains  to  the  art  of  war.  They  learned  this 
art,  after  a  fashion,  in  the  schools.  But  everything  in 
their  schools  being  only  half  or  three-quarters  taught, 
the  young  officers  who  graduate  from  them  are  jokes. 
The  soldiers  they  command  are  soldiers  of  the  same 
type.  Evidently  they  are  what  might  be  called 
soldiers,  but  they  are  just  about  drilled ;  their  swords 
just  about  cut;  their  rifles  shoot  quasi-straight;  and 
their  powder  is  neither  quite  dry  nor  quite  wet.     Ac- 


232    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  mEALS  OF  TODAY 

cordingly,  when  they  have  pointed  their  cannon  and 
taken  aim,  so  so,  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  weapon 
always  goes  off,  or  that  it  always  misses,  that  it  hits  or 
that  it  does  not  hit.  All  that  is  approximate.  The 
only  thing  that  one  can  fairly  and  squarely  declare  is 
that  every  time  this  kind  of  an  army  has  encountered 
the  enemy  it  has  met  defeat.  Those  instances  I  have  in 
mind  now  were  only  semi-serious. 

In  the  land  of  Just  About  the  children  just  about 
obey  their  parents.  ^Vhen  they  sit  down  at  table, 
they  have  clean  hands,  by  courtesy.  They  eat  their 
soup,  but  they  never  eat  it  all ;  there  is  always  a  res- 
idue. They  go  to  school  and  get  there  on  time,  or 
somewhere  near  it.  Their  bags  are  half-open,  half- 
shut;  their  exercises  are  begun  but  not  finished. 
When  they  write,  they  mind  only  three  quarters  of 
their  P's  and  Q's.  Most  of  their  pages  are  clean,  but 
not  all  of  them.  They  know  their  lessons,  but  not  en- 
tirely. \Mien  the  teacher  talks,  they  open  one  eye 
and  lend  one  ear.  The  other  ear  and  the  other  eye 
are  vaguely  busy  with  various  objects.  When  the 
inspector  visits  the  school,  he  writes  down  the  follow- 
ing comment:  "Pupils  almost  good,  or  else  they  are 
almost  bad.  I  could  not  very  well  pass  on  them." 
Upon  leaving,  he  gives  the  teacher  compliments 
which  are  also  criticisms,  if  you  take  them  that  way, 
but  the  person  who  would  say  so  is  very  subtle. 

The  joiners  of  the  land  of  Just  About  make  parquetry, 
doors,  and  windows,  like  all  joiners.  Only,  when  you 
watch  them  work  you  notice  that  they  saw  and  plane 
just  about  straight.  At  a  pinch  you  might  say  it  was 
planing,  for  their  edges  are  never  true.     The  doors  have 


CHARLES  WAGNER  233 

slits  in  them,  and  the  windows  are  neither  open  nor 
closed.  The  panes  blink  on  account  of  their  uncer- 
tain angles,  the  parquet  floors  wave  up  and  down,  and 
the  tables  dance. 

Their  coopers  make  barrels,  tubs,  tuns,  and  troughs, 
but  everything  leaks.  When  you  gaze  into  a  looking- 
glass  in  the  land  of  Just  About,  you  are  not  absolutely 
sure  whose  face  you  see.  Perhaps  it  is  you,  but  it  might 
also  be  your  brother  or  your  cousin.  The  portraits 
painted  by  the  artists  over  there  all  have  a  vague  re- 
semblance to  the  originals. 

The  masons  in  the  land  of  Just  About  have,  like  our 
masons,  the  plumb-line  and  the  square,  but  no  angle 
is  a  right  angle,  and  no  wall  is  perpendicular.  Are 
they  oblique.^  It  could  not  be  claimed  so  without 
exaggeration.  And  so  the  houses,  the  churches,  and 
the  markets  are  relatively  substantial.  Yes,  the  roof 
of  a  theater  in  a  city  of  Just  About  did  fall  in  lately. 
Still  it  must  be  admitted  that  only  a  part  of  it  fell, 
and  that  the  victims  were  only  half-killed.  The  sur- 
geons who  answered  the  hurry  call  almost  cured  the 
patients  and  just  about  properly  reset  a  certain  number 
of  fractured  limbs. 

The  merchants  in  this  weird  country  use  scales, 
weights,  and  measures  that  are  passably  accurate. 
However,  if  you  weigh  your  purchases  when  you  get 
home,  you  are  always  just  a  little  short.  If  they  make 
change,  you  are  sure  to  find  some  good  coins,  but 
rarely  are  they  all  good.  At  the  grocer's  the  groceries 
are  of  medium  quality.  It  would  be  doing  these  good 
people  an  injustice  to  say  that  they  sell  inferior  prod- 
ucts;   but  on  the  other  hand  it   would   be  wrong  to 


234    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

call  them  high  class.  The  shops  have  eggs  that  are 
nearly  fresh.  The  meat,  the  fish,  and  the  poultry  are 
fresh,  too,  but  of  a  questionable  freshness.  And  this 
little  adjective,  which  does  not  say  enough  and  which 
says  too  much,  is  appKcable  to  the  honesty  of  these 
tradesmen  as  well  as  to  the  cleanhness  of  their  shops. 

If  something  out  of  the  ordinary  happens,  anything 
like  an  accident,  a  fight,  or  an  assassination,  the  pohce 
arrive  neither  soon  enough  nor  too  late.  They  take 
the  evidence  and  make  their  report.  There  is  always 
something  lacking  about  this  report.  It  is  very  much 
like  a  horse  when  he  is  walking  on  three  legs.  At  the 
courthouse  witnesses  are  called.  They  are  not  very 
sure  of  what  they  have  seen  and  heard ;  but  they  take 
good  care  not  to  say  they  have  not  seen  or  heard 
anything.  Do  they  tell  the  truth?  They  certainly 
do ;  but  they  keep  back  a  part  of  it.  Once  the  speeches 
of  counsel  are  finished,  the  judges  pass  a  sentence  in 
which  they  lump  things.  Consequently  most  of  the 
time  when  there  is  a  lawsuit  on  hand,  they  never  finish 
it.  They  do  not  succeed  in  proving  the  facts  or  in 
declaring  who  is  right  and  who  is  wrong. 

I  made  a  point  of  noticing  the  women  of  the  country. 
But  if  you  were  to  ask  me  whether  they  are  beautiful 
or  ugly,  I  should  be  very  much  perplexed.  If  you  said 
they  were  ugly,  you  would  be  slandering  them ;  if  you 
said  they  were  beautiful,  you  would  be  flattering  them 
shamefully.  If  you  want  to  find  out  from  me  whether 
these  women  are  graceful,  active,  good  housekeepers, 
intelligent,  and  virtuous,  I  really  should  be  at  a  loss  to 
answer.  They  do  everything  the  way  they  sweep 
and  knit.     How  do  they  sweep  and  knit  ?    This  way : 


CHARLES  WAGNER  235 

they  sweep  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  but  not  in  the 
corners.  When  they  knit,  they  drop  stitches.  As  a 
result  the  little  out-of-the-way  corners  of  their  houses 
are  dirty,  and  their  stockings  have  holes. 

What  kind  of  food  did  I  find  on  my  trip  ?  Neither 
good  nor  bad.  Did  I  have  cool  things  to  drink  .^  I 
cannot  truthfully  say  so.  Were  the  drinks  tepid, 
then  ?  No,  I  have  no  right  to  assert  it  positively,  or  to 
complain  in  consequence,  for  their  water,  their  wine, 
and  their  beer  are  neither  warm  nor  cold. 

And  they  themselves  are  neither  warm  nor  cold. 
From  the  government  and  executive  officials  down  to 
the  families  and  private  individuals  in  the  land  of  Just 
About,  nothing  is  frank  or  up  and  down  or  squarely 
asserted. 

What  ought  to  be  thought  of  such  a  country  ?  Noth- 
ing bad,  nothing  good.  But  that  in  itself  is  not  good. 
It  is  bad,  very  bad  indeed.  What  is  a  half -knowledge, 
a  half -skill,  a  half-truth,  a  half -honesty  ?  It  is  some- 
times worse  than  the  absence  of  knowledge,  skill,  or 
honesty.  Give  me  the  out-and-out  rascals,  liars  who 
have  the  courage  of  their  lies.  These  are  preferable. 
At  least  one  knows  what  to  expect.  Let  us  be  wholly 
what  we  are.  Let  us  do  wholly  what  we  have  to  do. 
Do  not  let  us  ever  be  satisfied  with  the  "just  about." 
At  any  rate  nothing  is  so  irritating  as  the  "just  about." 
I  learned  something  of  it  over  there.  I  left  just  in 
time.  So  much  indecision  and  fickleness  and  equivo- 
cation drove  me  beside  myself,  and  you  could  fairly 
see  my  good-humor  lozenges  melt. 


HENRI  MARION 

Henri  Marion  (1846-1896),  lycee  agrege,  subsequently  pro- 
fessor at  the  Sorbonne  (a  new  chair  in  the  science  of  education) ; 
instrumental  in  establishing  the  higher  primary  normal  schools 
at  St.  Cloud  and  Fontenay-aux-Roses ;  author  of  several  philo- 
sophical and  pedagogical  works :  La  solidariU  morale,  V Education 
dans  V  University,  Legons  de  morale,  L'Mucation  des  jeunes  fiUes. 


QUESTIONS  OF  DISCIPLINE » 

Our  establishments  of  secondary  education  are  al- 
most always  organized  on  the  boarding-school  plan. 
Doubtless  certain  lycees,  and  not  the  least  prosperous 
among  them,  are  day  schools  pure  and  simple,  but  they 
are  so  few  and  so  exceptional  that  they  can  almost  be 
left  out  of  consideration.  Doubtless  in  all  the  lycees 
and  colleges  in  France  there  is  a  considerable  propor- 
tion of  day  pupils ;  but  as  is  well  known,  it  is  not  on 
these  that  the  discipline  of  the  school  weighs  most 
heavily,  and  it  is  not  their  lot  which  should  give  the 
public  most  concern.  The  education  of  the  day  pu- 
pils is  ultimately  the  concern  of  their  families  quite  as 
much  as,  and  perhaps  more  than,  it  is  that  of  the  edu- 
cational authorities.  In  giving  them  to  us  for  in- 
struction, the  parents  have  implicitly,  sometimes  ex- 
pressly, reserved  the  right  of  discipline.  Social  and 
domestic  environment,  whether  it  has  the  same  aim 
as  the  classroom  or  whether  it  counteracts  and  destroys 
the  effect  of  the  class,  exerts  such  an  influence  on  the 

1  Extracts  from  the  report  on  discipline  in  establishments  of  secondary 
education  made  by  the  sub-commission  on  discipline  to  the  general  com- 
mission for  the  improvement  in  organization  of  establishments  of  secondary 
education,  1888.  This  report  was  drawn  up  by  Henri  Marion  of  the  Faculty 
of  Letters  of  the  University  of  Paris. 


HENRI  MARION  237 

manners,  character,  and  life  of  the  day  pupils  that  our 
responsibility,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  is  min- 
imized. But  we  have  a  great  responsibility  toward 
the  boarding  pupils,  or  rather  toward  the  nation 
through  them.  Moreover,  a  greater  part  of  the  pro- 
posed measures  apply  to  both  classes  of  pupils. 

Thousands  of  children  are  unconditionally  intrusted 
to  the  educational  authorities.  As  far  as  possible, 
these  are  to  be  made  into  the  men  the  country  needs. 
What  other  force  than  the  system  of  education  can  pro- 
vide us  with  the  characters  our  institutions  demand, 
and  what  else  can  build  up  that  moral  consciousness 
without  which  liberty  cannot  live.f*  Moral  and  civic 
education,  which  is  a  pressing  necessity  at  all  times  and 
which  the  primary  school  today  is  striving  to  give  to 
all,  is  doubly  necessary  for  those  who  will  not  only 
have  to  act  aright  themselves,  but  who,  through  word 
of  mouth,  the  press,  books,  and  social  influence,  will 
mold  public  spirit  and  direct  public  opinion. 

Until  now  we  have  been  too  much  inclined  to  believe 
that  this  moral  education  could  be  given  indirectly, 
implied  as  it  is  in  general  culture.  True  culture  gives 
historical  knowledge,  philosophic  habits,  good  sense, 
and  good  taste,  which,  while  they  are  useful  every- 
where, also  help  one  to  see  clearly  and  to  conduct  one- 
self honestly  in  public  matters.  And  yet  brains,  as  it 
has  been  very  well  said,  assist  in  everything,  but  they 
are  nowhere  all-sufficient.  Most  certainly  they  do  not 
suffice  to  enable  a  man  to  play  a  useful  part  in  a  de- 
mocracy, for  they  do  not  presuppose  even  the  most 
modest,  the  most  negative  of  these  virtues  that  the 
exercise  of  liberty  demands :  patience,  self-control,  and 


238    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  mEALS  OF  TODAY 

resistance  to  the  impulses  of  passion.  Their  whole 
education  and  not  their  instruction  alone  must  pre- 
pare our  young  people  for  a  life  of  liberty. 

We  prepare  ourselves  for  liberty  only  by  using  it. 
Now  the  boarding  school  by  its  very  nature  can  pro- 
vide but  a  restricted  opportunity  for  liberty.  Almost 
necessarily  boarding-school  government  is  a  govern- 
ment by  authority,  mechanical  in  spirit.  How  can  the 
military  type  on  which  the  lycee  was  first  conceived 
be  modified  so  as  to  make  of  it  a  school  of  independence 
for  the  individual? 

Doubtless  there  is  also  a  preparation  for  liberty  in 
learning  how  to  obey,  but  this  preparation  is  too  indirect. 
Besides,  there  are  different  kinds  of  obedience.  To 
obey  because  one  does  not  know  how  to  do  otherwise, 
without  taking  an  opportunity  for  revolt  at  intervals  — 
is  not  that  on  the  whole  the  very  opposite  of  knowing 
how  to  govern  oneself?  Every  one  must  feel  that  to 
submit  youth  to  this  sort  of  obedience  could  never  be 
the  best  means  of  making  free  men. 

Nevertheless,  the  boarding  school  seems  to  be  a 
necessity  in  our  society,  for  without  it  half  the  young 
people  in  France  who  take  up  secondary  work  would 
not  do  so.  All  that  one  can  reasonably  ask  is  that  the 
State  do  everything  in  its  power  to  check  the  over-de- 
velopment and  correct  the  evil  effects  of  this  system. 
Its  suppression  may  be  desirable,  but  there  is  probably 
a  great  deal  to  be  considered  on  this  question,  and  its 
abolishment  might  be  regretted  even  from  the  purely 
theoretical  point  of  view.  At  present  it  is  certain  that 
we  need  not  expect  any  results  from  the  efforts  to 
abolish  the  boarding  school. 


HENRI  MAKION 

But  if  the  boarding-school  system  must  be  accepted, 
it  is  on  one  condition  which  the  sub-commission  has  in- 
sisted upon  at  every  step ;  namely,  that  the  number  of 
pupils  in  each  establishment  be  kept  within  reasonable 
limits  and  never  under  any  pretext  be  allowed  to  reach 
the  condition  one  finds  in  certain  institutions  at  the 
present  moment. 

In  our  opinion,  one  principle  dominates  the  whole 
question  of  discipline.  As  unity  is  the  essential  fea- 
ture of  character,  so  unity  is  the  first  necessity  in  edu- 
cation. The  school  where  each  child  cannot  be  inti- 
mately known  by  the  head  of  the  school  and  followed 
with  the  same  care  from  one  end  of  his  development 
to  the  other  is  not  an  educational  institution. 

Doubtless  the  child  will  not  reach  his  full  character 
development  at  college.  If,  as  a  certain  philosopher 
has  said,  "the  foundation  of  character  consists  not  in 
the  sum  total  of  its  quaUties,  but  in  the  absolute  unity 
of  its  guiding  principle,"  one  can  see  that  few  adults 
(very  few  indeed,  and  doubtless  never  before  their 
full  maturity)  attain  that  state  of  perfection  where 
they  can  solemnly  and  irrevocably  agree  to  follow 
thenceforth  a  single  principle  of  conduct.  Neverthe- 
less, it  will  be  granted  that  there  may  be  a  certain  prep- 
aration for  the  diverse  crises  in  the  moral  life.  It  is 
the  function  of  education  to  make  known  at  the  proper 
time  the  principles  worthy  of  dominating  life  and  to 
establish  habits  that  will  develop  a  love  of  these  prin- 
ciples and  make  the  pupils  realize  their  value.  Now 
how  can  laxness  in  discipline  and  the  conflicting  con- 
trary influences  which  drag  a  child  in  every  direction, 
not  only  from  one  year  to  another  but  from  one  day  to 


240    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

the  next,  even  from  hour  to  hour  in  the  same  day  — 
how  can  this  incoherence  develop  that  spirit  of  order 
in  the  child's  conduct  and  that  firmness  of  will  which 
make  a  man  desirous  and  capable  of  regulating  his 
life  according  to  principle  ? 

A  certain  diversity  of  influences  is  doubtless  desir- 
able, since  it  encourages  diversity  of  character  —  a  de- 
sirable asset  for  society,  and  likewise  a  guarantee  of 
untrammeled  development.  But  each  pupil,  through 
all  the  change  of  teachers  that  our  complicated  school 
life  permits,  should  always  feel  that  he  is  not  kept  in 
leading  strings,  but  that  he  is  personally  known,  loved, 
and  watched  over  by  some  one  whom  nothing  essential 
escapes,  some  one  who  keeps  track  of  his  efforts,  even 
of  his  failures,  and  who  advises  or  reprimands  him  in 
moments  of  weakness.  This  guide,  who  should  take 
the  place  of  the  absent  father,  who  is  naturally  the  im- 
personation of  authority  in  the  eyes  of  the  child,  and 
who  represents  the  general  discipline  more  than  any 
one  teacher,  is  the  head  of  the  institution  himself. 
This  particular  work  belongs  properly  to  him.  To 
put  him  in  position  to  accomplish  it  is  the  first  object 
of  the  measures  we  wish  to  propose. 

In  order  that  the  headmaster  may  really  accomplish 
the  work  of  an  educator,  in  order  that  he  may  have  a 
real  knowledge  of  all  the  pupils  confided  to  his  care  and 
exert  over  all  of  them  a  lasting  influence,  it  is  first  neces- 
sary that  he  should  not  be  overwhelmed  with  ad- 
ministrative cares.  Yet  how  can  he  avoid  this  with 
the  burden  of  a  house  of  a  thousand,  twelve  hundred, 
fifteen  hundred  pupils,  or  more,  and  with  all  the  mani- 
fold anxieties  and  responsibilities  such  a  house  entails  ? 


HENRI  MARION  241 

The  eminent  men  who  bear  such  burdens  are  miracles 
of  devotion  and  skill ;  their  activity  is  great  and  pro- 
ductive despite  all  their  cares ;  and  a  few  of  them 
have  left  enduring  memories.  But  it  is  evident  that 
their  efficiency  would  be  vastly  greater  under  normal 
conditions  which  would  allow  the  man  to  show  forth 
through  the  administrator  and  which  would  permit 
him  to  see  more  clearly  in  the  schoolboy  the  man  in 
the  making. 

Therefore,  Gentlemen,  your  sub-commission  pro- 
poses that  first  of  all  you  express  the  formal  desire  to 
see  the  number  of  students  admitted  into  our  insti- 
tutions of  secondary  education  restricted  to  a  maximum 
of  five  hundred  for  day  schools,  to  four  hundred  for 
schools  which  take  both  boarders  and  day  pupils,  and 
to  three  hundred  for  boarding  schools. 

On  this  condition,  we  believe,  and  on  this  condition 
only,  can  there  be  inaugurated  in  our  lycees  a  discipline 
whose  one  and  only  object  shall  be  not  to  obtain  regu- 
larity of  movement  and  external  system,  but  which 
shall  aim  resolutely  to  prepare  reasonable  minds  for  a 
life  of  freedom. 


F.  ALENGRY 

F.   Alengry   (  ),  agrege;  subsequently  academy  in- 

spector ;  at  present  rector  of  the  academy  at  Chambery ;  author 
of  various  pedagogical  works  which  have  run  through  numerous 
editions. 


CULTIVATION  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
REASON  IN  OUR  SCHOOLS 

You  who  have  followed  attentively  and  will  continue 
to  follow  the  work  of  your  children  in  school  are  not 
unaware  that  we  are  striving  to  give  each  one  of  them 
intellectual,  moral,  and  civic  training.  In  all  aspects 
of  this  beautiful  and  noble  task  which  have  been  too 
long  separated  and  which  we  are  now  realizing  simul- 
taneously, our  methods  are  based  more  and  more  on 
reason,  and  are  aiming  more  and  more  to  form,  to  cul- 
tivate, and  to  develop  the  reason. 

We  have  banished  the  school  exercises  which  be- 
numb the  intelligence,  the  work  in  which  the  personal 
activity  of  the  child  is  lacking,  which  cumbers  the 
memory  with  empty  words  and  hollow  formulas,  and 
smothers  the  living  forces  of  the  mind  under  the  bur- 
den of  unassimilated  knowledge.  Rather  we  constantly 
and  progressively  encourage  the  pupils  to  think  for 
themselves ;  we  stimulate  their  desire  to  know,  to  seek 
the  causes  and  the  reasons  for  things.  We  therefore 
reserve  first  place  for  those  processes  which  require 
observation  and  reflection.  We  are  making  of  the 
pupil  an  active  collaborator  rather  than  a  passive 
auditor. 

From  the  lowest  grades  up  to  the  highest  you  will 
find  us  thus  constantly  occupied.     Even  in  the  infant 

242 


F.  ALENGRY  243 

classes  which  have  been  aptly  called  classes  of  initi- 
ation, we  are  careful  not  to  take  advantage  of  the 
pupil's  credulity ;  we  avoid  blocking  the  free  develop- 
ment of  his  personality  by  the  old-time  process  of  dis- 
ciplinary restraint;  we  attempt  to  apportion  and  to 
measure  out  the  information  given  him,  and  by  that 
I  mean  appropriate  information. 

Let  us  run  rapidly  over  the  different  branches,  and 
you  will  see  that  everywhere  we  have  substituted  more 
active  methods  for  the  old  passive  ways  of  procedure. 

In  the  study  of  language,  for  instance,  we  have  be- 
gun to  elimitiate  (although  not  yet  suflSciently,  accord- 
ing to  my  way  of  thinking)  the  old-time  grammatical 
formulas,  the  last  tenacious  survival  of  the  logic  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  We  have  removed  unreasonable  de- 
tails from  analysis,  abandoned  mechanical  copying, 
and  lessened  the  monotony  of  dictation,  the  conjuga- 
tions, and  the  diverse  grammatical  exercises.  We  no 
longer  give  difficult,  complicated,  or  subtle  subjects 
for  composition  which  are  foreign  to  the  pupil's  expe- 
rience and  which  teach  him  to  be  satisfied  with  words, 
and  to  write  merely  for  the  sake  of  writing. 

In  history  we  have  suppressed  facts  which  have 
no  educational  value,  the  long  lists  of  names  and 
dynasties  which  it  is  not  worth  the  trouble  to  teach 
children,  and  we  have  retained  events  of  real  moral  and 
social  significance,  ideas,  customs,  and  local  usages. 
We  strive  especially  to  bring  these  into  relief,  to  bind 
them  together,  to  compare  and  group  them  under  a 
few  principal  topics. 

In  geography  we  have  done  some  joyous  cutting  in 
the  dark,  sad  jungle  of  abstract  definitions  and  useless 


244    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

numerical  data.  Good  teachers  call  up  before  the 
pupil's  imagination  a  vital,  picturesque  geography. 
According  to  their  judgment  they  establish  the  natural 
and  necessary  relations  which  associate  habitat,  cli- 
mate, soil,  commerce,  industry,  man,  and  his  evolution. 

In  arithmetic  we  are  avoiding  the  catch  problems 
which  oblige  the  child  to  reason  haltingly,  and  which 
torture  the  mind.  For  such  problems  we  substitute 
simple  problems  of  gradually  increasing  difficulty  which 
teach  accurate  reasoning  by  following  the  natural 
logical  processes  of  the  mind  and  by  relying  on  real  and 
exact  data.  At  the  same  time  we  demand  clear  and 
precise  reasoning  in  the  oral  demonstrations  as  w^ell  as 
in  the  written  solutions. 

In  the  physical  and  natural  sciences  we  accumulate 
material  for  observation ;  we  offer  ever  greater  facili- 
ties for  experimentation ;  we  learn  to  see,  to  describe, 
to  classify,  rather  than  to  pile  up  words  and  formulas. 

In  ethics  and  philosophy  we  are  endeavoring  to  de- 
velop sincerity,  the  spirit  of  free  questioning  and  free 
criticism;  we  put  the  pupil  on  his  guard  against 
ready-made  or  chance  opinions,  against  prejudice  and 
bias;  we  accustom  him  to  beware  of  precipitous  or 
ill-advised  judgments,  hasty  or  unfounded  conclusions ; 
we  teach  him  to  refer  the  motives  of  action  as  well  as 
those  of  thought  to  a  few  guiding  principles,  and  to 
view  as  a  whole  the  multitude  of  facts  and  actions. 

All  our  efforts,  therefore,  tend  to  rely  upon  reason 
for  the  direction  of  our  methods  of  teaching  and  of  our 
intellectual  development.  Who  will  blame  us  for  hav- 
ing chosen  this  as  our  guide  .'^ 


EMILE  BOUTROUX 

Emile  Boutroux  (1845-  ),  contemporary  French  philosopher ; 
professor  at  the  Sorbonne;  member  of  the  Academy;  director 
of  the  Thiers  Foundation ;  friend  and  translator  of  the  philosopher, 
William  James.  Principal  works  :  De  la  contingence  des  lots  de  la 
nature;  Questions  de  morale  et  d'Sdu^ation;  La  religion  et  la  science; 
Blaise  Pascal. 

MORALITY  AND  RELIGION 

If  from  the  beginning  of  time  religion  has  exerted  so 
profound  an  influence  on  the  life,  the  feelings,  and  the 
actions  of  individuals  and  societies,  this  is  apparently 
because  it  Is  a  vital  force,  a  living  thing,  and  not 
merely  a  system  of  formulas  and  abstractions ;  because 
it  concerns  not  only  the  thought  but  the  being.  It  is 
essentially  a  motive  force,  a  source  of  love,  of  will,  and 
of  strength.  If  it  is  still  suspected  by  science,  is  not 
this  because  it  lives  by  elements  which  science  as  such 
does  not  know  and  has  not  succeeded  in  bringing  within 
its  sphere  ?  Now  such  elements  are  precisely  the  faith, 
the  hope,  and  the  love  which  morality  requires. 

Moral  faith  is  an  action  of  the  will  directed  toward 
duty,  and  duty  implies  a  higher  object,  in  the  presence 
of  which  man's  attitude  is  respect,  reverence,  and 
obedience. 

Moral  hope  is  an  action  of  the  intelligence  by  which 
it  conceives  what  tradition  calls  God,  —  in  other  words, 
the  union  of  perfection  and  existence. 

The  love  which  morality  connotes  is  an  action  of  the 
feelings,  which  surpasses  the  natural  power  of  the  will. 
One  loves  as  one  can,  not  as  one  wishes,  according  to 
the  voice  of  nature.  The  command  to  love,  if  it  means 
anything  at  all,  comes  from  a  power  higher  than  nature. 

245 


246    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

In  fact,  if  one  considers  a  certain  historical  phenom- 
enon, which  is  commonly  held  to  be  religion,  I  mean 
Christianity,  one  sees  in  the  first  place  the  three  vir- 
tues that  morality  presupposes.  What,  then,  is  the 
exact  relationship  between  morality  and  religion? 

ReUgion  is  the  flight  of  the  soul  which,  bom  in  the 
source  of  being,  conceives  a  transcendent  ideal  and,  in 
order  to  strive  for  it,  acquires  a  force  greater  than  the 
force  of  nature.  Its  essential  characteristic  is  that  it 
creates  an  ideal  of  existence  and  energies  capable  of 
realizing  that  ideal.  It  is  recognized  by  this  charac- 
teristic :  that  it  proceeds  from  the  duty  to  the  capacity 
for  doing  it  and  not  vice  versa. 

Moral  philosophy  is  an  effort  of  the  reason  to  formu- 
late in  terms  of  the  intellect  the  conception  of  a  higher 
life  and  to  derive  from  it  rules  applicable  to  all  men  in 
a  given  society,  and  even  to  all  men  without  exception. 

If  the  motto  of  religion  is  perfection,  that  of  morality 
is  universality.  "Be  ye  perfect,  even  as  your  heavenly 
Father  is  perfect,"  is  the  command  of  the  Gospel. 
"Act  so  that  the  maxim  of  your  will  can  at  the  same 
time  be  vahd  as  a  principle  of  universal  legislation," 
is  Kant's  formula. 

So  the  struggle  to  the  bitter  end  between  morality 
and  religion,  even  in  our  society,  is  not  the  only  solu- 
tion conceivable.  Let  moral  philosophy  become  con- 
scious of  the  postulates  it  implies.  Let  it  not  be  satis- 
fied merely  to  classify  and  systematize  its  logical 
principles,  but  let  it  rather  consider  its  foundation  and 
the  conditions  for  its  realization.  Let  it  strive  to  be, 
and  not  merely  to  know,  and  its  hostile  attitude  to- 
ward religion  will  disappear. 


fiMILE  BOUTROUX  247 

Doubtless  it  can  present  itself  as  a  distinct  discipline 
and  profess  what  is  called  neutrality.  But  this  neu- 
trality, far  from  openly  or  surreptitiously  aiming  to 
ridicule  the  belief  in  God,  will  keep  open  those  avenues 
of  the  soul  through  which  religious  beliefs  penetrate. 
It  will  be  tolerant,  not  merely  as  one  is  tolerant  toward 
a  mind  which  one  considers  stunted  or  misguided  and 
unable  as  yet  to  grasp  a  higher  point  of  view ;  it  will 
profess  a  sincere  respect  for  all  beliefs  which  show  an 
orientation  of  the  soul  toward  truth.  And  this  very 
respect  will  be  increased  twofold  by  the  sympathy  which 
all  things  hfiman  should  awaken  in  the  heart  of  man. 

On  the  other  hand,  religion,  if  it  remains  faithful 
to  its  highest  traditions,  will  consist  essentially  in  the 
free,  generous,  and  fruitful  life  of  the  spirit,  in  the 
effort  to  promote,  by  communion  of  souls  under  divine 
influence,  the  advent  of  the  "kingdom  of  God,"  that 
is  to  say,  of  the  reign  of  justice  and  love.  These  vis- 
ible and  external  characteristics  of  religion,  as  they 
continue  to  translate  the  divine  into  the  language  of 
men,  will  be  brought  ever  closer  to  the  invisible  world, 
and  will  be  interpreted  according  to  this  same  relation, 
lest  the  letter,  under  the  influence  of  the  natural  law 
of  habit,  be  substituted  for  the  spirit.  Then  sooner  or 
later  will  come  a  day  when  morality  and  religion  .  .  . 
will  be  as  amazed  that  they  have  fought  each  other  as 
two  persons  who,  after  having  mistakenly  believed 
themselves  enemies,  perceive,  on  better  acquaintance, 
that  they  have  always  agreed  on  essential  points.  .  .  . 
Not  only  in  fiction,  but  in  real  life  as  well,  certain 
dramas  pregnant  with  catastrophe  end  with  a  scene  of 
reconciliation. 


LE  PERE  LABERTHONNIERE 

Le  Pere  Laberthonniere,  member  of  the  Congregation  of  the 
Oratory ;  director  of  the  College  of  Juilly ;  director  of  the  Annals 
of  Christian  Philosophy;  one  of  the  principal  representatives  of 
the  science  of  education  in  the  Catholic  world. 


AUTHORITY  IN  EDUCATION  ^ 

When  we  ask  ourselves  from  the  individualistic  point 
of  view  by  what  right  the  educator  exerts  his  authority, 
we  find  no  answer.  It  is  not  so  much  a  question  of  his 
right,  as  of  his  duty ;  for  if  he  had  only  a  right,  he 
could  refrain  from  exercising  it  with  impunity.  But 
the  educator  who  is  conscious  of  his  task,  who  does  not 
wish  either  to  abandon  the  children  to  themselves  or 
to  enslave  and  make  tools  of  them,  feels  himself  so 
identified  with  his  pupils  that  their  ignorance,  their 
troubles,  their  faults,  weigh  upon  him  as  though  they 
were  his  own  and  as  if  he  were  responsible  for  them. 
Thus,  although  he  corrects  them  from  a  sense  of  duty, 
and  not  by  \drtue  of  exercising  a  right,  the  punish- 
ments which  he  inflicts  and  the  efforts  he  asks  them  to 
make  cause  him  to  suffer  as  though  he  were  correcting 
himself.  In  reality  he  interferes  in  their  life  as  he  in- 
terferes in  his  own  and  for  the  same  reason.  It  is 
faith  which  makes  him  act,  a  faith  which  lifts  him  out 
of  himself,  above  temporal  things  and  individual  in- 
terests. Otherwise  there  is  no  education.  And  this 
faith  which  leads  him  to  act  is  also  the  faith  he  in- 
spires in  others  in  order  to  raise  them  also  above 
themselves,  to  induce  them  to  work  with  him  and  to 
attain  an  end  which  will  be  as  much  theirs  as  his.     By 

*  From  ThSorie  de  VSducation,  pages  23  et  seq. 
248 


LE  PERE  LABERTHONNlfiRE  249 

such  sincerity  of  purpose,  the  man  and  the  educator 
are  one.  .  .  . 

There  is  always  authority,  an  authority  which  re- 
mains firm  in  order  not  to  fail  in  its  mission.  But  it  is 
not  a  harsh  and  rigorous  law,  without  flexibility  or  life, 
a  stern  categorical  imperative.  .  .  .  No  more  is  it  a 
will  which  imposes  itself  on  others  merely  in  order  to 
dominate  them.  It  is  a  will  which  devotes  itself  to 
other  wills  in  order  to  assist  and  supplement  them. 
And  finally  it  develops  that  the  authority  of  the  edu- 
cator rests  in  his  own  conscience,  a  conscience  where 
God  reigns,  *^  which  lives,  which  manifests  itself  by 
doing,  which  radiates  and  makes  itself  felt  by  acting 
on  others  at  the  same  time  that  it  acts  on  itself. 

People  keep  reiterating  that  education  should  de- 
velop personal  initiative  in  the  child.  They  repeat  in 
every  key  that  to  educate  one  is  to  teach  him  to  think, 
to  will,  in  a  word  to  live  independently.  Doubtless 
they  are  right,  but  they  do  not  pay  sufficient  attention 
to  the  conditions  for  obtaining  this  result.  Although 
this  statement  is  easy  to  make,  we  must  nevertheless 
recognize  that  it  is  less  easy  to  put  into  practice ;  for  it 
is  not  a  question  of  commanding,  directing,  and  mold- 
ing at  pleasure,  while  taking  into  account  only  one's 
own  force  and  ability.  Educative  authority  is  not  the 
mastery  exerted  over  things,  over  animals,  and  over 
slaves,  if  it  really  fulfills  its  function,  if  it  really  applies 
itself  to  developing  personal  initiative,  to  forming  men 
capable  of  thinking,  willing,  and  living  by  themselves, 
instead  of  dominating  them  and  subordinating  them  to 
its  private  ends,  instead  of  trying  to  control  or  use 
them  in  one  way  or  another,  under  one  pretext  or  an- 


250    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

other.  Otherwise  it  becomes  unnecessary,  and  may 
easily  be  dispensed  with.  Hence  only  through  self- 
sacrifice  can  it  remain  faithful  to  its  mission.  It  is 
therefore  necessary  not  only  that  the  teacher  should 
allow,  but  that  he  should  positively  wish,  the  pupil  to 
be  master  of  himself  in  the  fullest  possible  degree,  with 
a  firm  and  lofty  conception  of  his  own  personality. 

It  is  not  a  matter,  as  one  frequently  hears,  of  mold- 
ing individuals ;  for  this  expression  might  imply  that 
the  educator  works  on  malleable  material  which  re- 
acts only  in  response  to  objective  influence.  On  the 
other  hand,  neither  is  it  entirely  a  question  of  respect- 
ing individual  rights  and  liberty;  for  at  the  outset 
one  has  to  do  only  with  potential  liberties  and  rights 
which  are  quite  unaware  of  their  own  existence.  The 
purpose  is  rather  to  help  individuals  become  con- 
scious of  themselves,  of  their  duties,  of  their  responsi- 
bilities. The  purpose  is  to  awaken  their  intellectual 
and  moral  nature,  in  a  word,  to  bring  them  to  life,  for 
education  is  truly  travail. 

And  like  travail  it  is  a  labor  of  love,  dehberately 
planned,  not  for  oneself,  but  for  another,  love  which  is 
not  in  danger  of  perishing,  and  which  attains  its  end 
freely,  thoroughly  conscious  of  what  it  is  doing.  Edu- 
cational authority  escapes  being  oppressive  on  account 
of  its  essentially  loving  nature.  A  little  while  ago  we 
expressed  the  same  truth  when  we  said  that  it  should 
act  only  through  self-sacrifice. 

Education,  then,  can  be  but  a  work  of  charity. 
Otherwise  there  exists  in  education  an  irreducible  an- 
tinomy. Let  it  be  understood  that  we  are  using  this 
word  in  its  full  Christian  sense,  the  sense  in  which  St. 


LE  PfiRE  LABERTHONNIERE  251 

Paul  used  it.  People  have  endeavored  to  make  charity 
mean  something  else,  a  condescension  which  renders 
service  for  its  own  satisfaction  or  advantage.  This  is 
substituting  sham  for  reality.  There  is  charity  only 
if  there  is  real  sacrifice  of  self  to  another.  And  as  soon 
as  one  intervenes  in  the  life  of  another  —  and  that  is 
what  education  must  do  to  a  certain  extent  —  in  order 
not  to  take  possession  of  him,  it  is  necessary  to  love 
him  and  to  forget  self. 

If  the  authority  of  the  educator  occasionally  has  the 
appearance  of  a  constraining  force,  this  is  only  ap- 
parent. In'^reality,  in  its  sincerity,  in  all  its  diverse 
forms,  it  is  always  a  force  which  constantly  gives  itself. 
It  does  not  intervene  in  the  lives  of  others  in  order  to 
possess  them,  but  rather  to  furnish  them  the  means  of 
becoming  real  masters  of  themselves.  It  is  a  soul 
which  nourishes  other  souls  with  its  own  substance  so 
that  they  may  live  and  grow,  so  that  they  may  give 
themselves  in  their  turn,  and  in  their  turn  accomplish 
the  work  of  humanity. 


MGR.  ALFRED  BAUDRILLART 

Mgr.  Alfred  Baudrillart  ( 1 85  9-  ) ,  former  student  at  the  higher 
normal  school;  agrege  in  history  and  geography;  rector  of  the 
Catholic  Institute  at  Paris;  vicar-general  of  Paris;  author  of 
many  historical  works. 

ON  THE  TEACHING  OF  HISTORY  ^ 

Like  Montaigne,  we  desire  well-trained,  not  over- 
crowded, minds,  and  we  believe  with  Plutarch  that 
the  child  mind  is  not  an  empty  vessel  that  we  must 
fill,  but  a  hearth  that  we  must  warm.  History  with 
its  great  examples  will  help  us  accomplish  our  end  if 
it  be  true,  as  Plato  has  said,  that  one  always  ends  by 
resembling  in  some  way  those  whom  one  admires. 
For  history  with  its  great  examples  is  indeed  that 
magistra  vita  of  which  Cicero  has  spoken.  The  study 
of  history  gives  us  a  certain  maturity.  In  lieu  of  the 
experience  that  comes  with  age,  we  acquire  that  of 
bygone  centuries. 

History  teaches  lessons  in  personal  moraHty.  We 
leam,  for  instance,  from  St.  Louis,  the  arbiter  of 
Europe,  that  justice  is  supreme  wisdom,  and  from 
Louis  XI,  caught  in  his  own  trap,  that  disloyalty  is 
seldom  a  good  adviser.  Sometimes  even  a  mere  de- 
tail, apparently  insignificant,  will  help  us  in  our  effort 
to  find  the  good. 

The  Prince  of  Conde  once  harshly  reprimanded  one 
of  his  officers.  Scarcely  had  he  uttered  the  words 
when  he  regretted  them.  A  few  minutes  afterwards, 
he  asked  the  same  officer  to  help  him  with  his  coat. 

^  Extract  from  an  address  at  the  distribution  of  prizes  at  the  lycee  of 
Laval,  August  1,  1882.  Uenseignement  catholique  dans  la  France  eontem- 
poraine,  Paris,  1910. 

252 


MGR.  ALFRED  BAUDRILLART  253 

The  officer,  who  felt  the  prince's  change  of  heart, 
smiled  and  said,  "You  are  trying  to  make  friends 
again?"  The  prince  immediately  threw  open  his  arms 
to  the  officer  and  embraced  him  warmly.  If  per- 
chance this  story  occurs  to  us  on  a  day  when  we  have 
yielded  to  a  fit  of  temper,  and  we  also  want  to  make 
friends  again,  let  us  do  so  with  the  same  frankness 
and  simplicity  as  did  the  conqueror  of  Rocroi. 

But  it  is  especially  as  the  great  inspiration  of  public 
and  national  morality  that  we  shall  consider  history. 
Who,  indeed,  tells  the  French  youth  what  France  is? 
His  family?^  Very  rarely.  Society?  More  rarely 
still.  It  is  at  school  that  the  child  learns  to  know  his 
country.  The  teacher  of  history  tells  him  what  France 
was  in  the  past  and  what  she  is  at  the  present  day, 
why  he  should  love  her  past,  and  why  he  should  love 
her  now.  These  two  loves  are  not  mutually  exclusive. 
More  than  once  in  the  Galerie  des  Armes  of  the  Paris 
Museum  of  Artillery  I  have  seen  soldiers  studying 
the  French  warriors  of  former  days.  They  filed  in 
front  of  those  figures  clad  in  hauberk,  cuirass,  and 
jerkin,  and  armed  with  mace,  lance,  and  musket. 
Did  they  laugh  at  this  equipment?  Not  at  all.  Far 
from  laughing,  they  repeatedly  said  to  one  another 
that  under  the  trappings  of  a  bygone  day,  as  well 
as  under  the  modern  great  coat,  at  Bouvines  as  well 
as  St.  Privat,^  our  men  marched  with  the  same  courage 
,  against  the  same  enemy.  Does  not  this  figurative 
union  of  the  old  army  and  the  new  typify  the  still 

*[St.  Privat,  a  village  of  the  Department  of  the  Moselle,  where  on  August 
18,  1870,  the  French  to  the  number  of  26,000  with  78  guns  heroically  fought 
against  90,000  Prussians  with  280  guns. 


254    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

nobler  union  between  the  old  and  the  new  France? 
Indeed,  how  our  native  country  shone  at  certain  epochs 
with  a  dazzling  luster !  I  confess  that  I  never  could 
behold  without  great  emotion  the  picture  of  the  de- 
velopment of  our  race  during  those  centuries  which 
are  disdainfully  referred  to  as  the  "Dark  Ages,"  — 
I  mean  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries. 

"From  1100  to  1300,"  says  1. 1.  Weiss,  "the knights 
of  France  with  their  followers  appear  everywhere, 
founding  French  empires,  principalities,  kingdoms, 
and  colonies.  We  are  too  likely  to  forget  that  almost 
at  the  same  moment  there  was  a  French  king  at  Naples, 
and  in  Sicily,  a  French  king  at  Jerusalem,  a  French 
king  in  Cyprus,  a  French  emperor  in  Constantinople, 
French  princes  at  Antioch,  in  Silicia,  in  Morea,  and  at 
Corfu;  there  was  even  a  French  king  in  London,  for 
our  language,  our  prowess,  and  our  laws  ruled  England 
during  two  hundred  years.  For  one  or  two  centuries 
the  name  of  France  was  what  the  name  of  Rome  had 
been,  and  an  illustrious  Italian  writer,  Dante's  master, 
Brunetto  Latini,  entitled  one  of  his  works  'On  the 
Universality  of  the  French  Language.'  " 

"VMien  this  idea  of  the  traditional  unity  of  the  French 
nation  is  impressed  upon  the  hearts  of  our  young  men, 
it  will  be  easier  to  cultivate  in  them  that  love  of  country 
which  the  teacher  of  history  should  inculcate  before 
everything  else.  "The  unity  of  French  history  is  the 
unity  of  France  herself,"  said  Jules  Ferry.  "We  have 
before  us  children  who  will  all  become  soldiers,  men 
on  whom  peace  will  impose  all  kinds  of  seK-restraint, 
and  war  all  kinds  of  sacrifice." 

In  one  of  the  great  parliamentary  debates  on  the 


MGR.  ALFRED  BAUDRILLART  255 

army  bill,  M.  Thiers  spoke  of  our  poor  recruits.  "You 
are  taking  from  our  society  men  who  have  had  no  share 
in  our  education,  who  have  not  been  fed  on  the  great 
examples  of  history,  and  to  each  of  them  you  are  say- 
ing: *Thou  shalt  not  think  of  thy  well-being  whilst 
everything  around  thee  is  at  peace,  and  when  it  be- 
comes necessary  thou  shalt  bear  the  cold  and  the 
heat.  Thou  shalt  throw  thyself  into  the  ice  of  the 
Beresina  and  die  to  save  the  army.  Thou  shalt  suffer 
the  torrid  heat  of  Africa,  and  thine  honor  and  glory 
shall  be  death  under  the  flag.'" 

Bonaparte  well  knew  the  force  of  example  when, 
going  back  to  ancient  history,  he  cited  the  example 
of  the  Roman  legions  to  his  soldiers  during  the  cam- 
paigns of  Italy  and  Egypt.  "Those  legions,"  he  said, 
"which  you  have  sometimes  imitated,  but  never  yet 
equaled."  And  our  soldiers  went  on  enduring  priva- 
tion and  fatigue,  fighting  one  against  ten.  "Our 
ambition,"  said  the  valiant  Pellport,  "was  to  equal  the 
Romans."  Modest  as  they  were,  these  soldiers  were 
heroic.  Little  did  they  suspect  that  one  day  as  new 
Romans  they  would  themselves  become  models  for 
others. 

Remember  K16ber's  foot  soldiers,  who  for  a  moment 
succumbed  to  exhaustion,  but  who  rose  up  again 
at  the  call  of  honor.  After  a  long  march  in  the  desert, 
panting  and  worn  out,  they  refused  to  carry  their 
wounded.  K16ber  ran  up  to  them:  "Wretched 
men,"  he  exclaimed,  "you  are  cowards,  not  soldiers. 
To  be  a  soldier  means  that  a  man  is  not  to  eat  when 
he  is  hungry,  not  to  drink  when  he  is  thirsty,  to  go  on 
walking  when  he  is  worn  out  with  fatigue,  and  when 


256    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

he  can  no  longer  carry  himself,  to  carry  his  wounded 
comrades.  Such  is  the  soldier's  duty,  wretched  men! 
Take  back  your  wounded  on  your  shoulders!"  And 
the  soldiers  took  back  the  wounded. 

Was  I  under  a  kind  of  spell  .^^  I  do  not  know,  but 
when  I  was  quoting  to  my  pupils  in  the  classroom  this 
anecdote  and  others  of  the  same  sort,  I  seemed  to  be 
looking  into  the  future,  yonder,  the  very  distant 
future.  Under  the  burning  sun  of  our  colonies,  I  could 
see  one  of  the  boys  who  was  listening  to  me.  He,  too, 
was  on  the  point  of  succumbing,  when  he  suddenly 
remembered  this  incident  of  the  history  class,  and  like 
a  cordial  the  memory  of  it  revived  his  courage.  For 
myself,  too,  this  vision  has  often  acted  as  a  cordial. 
At  times  teachers,  too,  have  need  of  cordials. 


JULES  PAYOT 

Jules  Payot  (1859-  ),  agrege  in  philosophy;  rector  of  the 
Academy  of  Aix;  author  of  Education  de  la  volonU,  which  has 
been  widely  translated,  L'iducation  de  la  dSjnocraiie,  and  various 
other  books. 

MILITARY  SERVICE  AND  SELF-CONTROL  ^ 

Today  schoolmasters  are  obliged  to  serve  in  the  army. 
The  time  spent  in  active  service  may  become  very 
profitable  to  those  young  men  who  enlist  with  full 
consciousness  of  the  greatness  of  their  future  calling. 

To  those  ^  who  think  seriously,  entering  the  army 
is  a  solemn  step,  for  it  signifies  the  acknowledgment 
of  the  insignificance  of  individual  life  and  will,  in  con- 
trast with  the  well-being  of  one's  native  land.  It 
means  recognition  of  the  inconsequential  character  of 
our  egoism  and  the  acceptance  of  the  truth  that  we 
possess  no  real  value  in  ourselves,  unless  our  will  can 
cooperate  with  the  wills  of  thousands  of  our  fellow 
countrymen.  By  its  mere  existence  the  army  sets 
us  an  example  of  brotherhood  and  joint  responsi- 
bility, because  there  all  isolated  effort  obviously  be- 
comes ineffectual. 

Acknowledgment  by  soldiers  and  leaders  of  a  prin- 
ciple outweighing  any  individual  interest,  and  implicit 
acceptance  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  life  of  each  to  this 
principle,  ennobles  the  slightest  act  of  everyday  serv- 
ice in  the  army.  .  .  . 

For  the  soldier,  subordination  is  the  daily  practical 
form  of  duty.  It  does  not  imply  annihilation  of  the 
will  of  the  individual,  but  rather  the  contrary,  for  as 

/  *  Courtesy  of  Armand  Colin  et  Cie. 

257 


258    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

the  thoughts  of  the  true  poet  gain  in  force  and  pre- 
cision through  conforming  to  the  laws  of  metrical 
language,  so  the  will  of  a  true  soldier  gains  in  strength 
and  energy  by  subordinating  itself  to  the  regulations 
of  military  discipline. 

The  "teacher-soldier"  who  ennobles  the  most 
arduous  tasks  by  fixing  his  thoughts  on  the  great 
patriotic  duty  he  is  performing  will  also  find  in  daily 
military  life  fine  opportunities  for  will-control.  In 
order  that  he  may  be  able  to  turn  these  opportunities 
to  good  account,  it  will  suffice  for  him  fully  to  under- 
stand the  necessity  for  discipline  of  all  kinds,  and 
willingly  to  accept  the  consequences  resulting  from  the 
performance  of  his  duty  to  his  country. 

From  this  very  moment,  while  the  poor  soldier 
(that  is,  the  narrow-minded  man,  fond  of  ease  and  a 
slave  to  comfort,  idleness,  and  pleasure)  will  find 
reasons  for  complaint  everywhere,  the  "teacher- 
soldier"  contentedly  accepts  the  inflexible  regulations 
of  military  discipline,  their  regularity,  and  the  prompt- 
ness required  even  in  acts  of  the  slightest  importance. 
Early  rising  affords  an  opportunity  for  overcoming 
indolence  of  body,  for  everybody,  whether  he  complies 
willingly  or  not,  is  obliged  to  rise.  The  exercise  of  the 
will  is  easy  in  this  case,  for  it  merely  consists  in  per- 
forming quickly  and  cheerfully  what  one  cannot  refuse 
to  do.  Again,  the  cleanliness  required,  the  prompt- 
ness exacted,  are  valuable  acquisitions  in  self-discipline. 
The  fatigue  of  marching  renders  the  body  supple; 
the  promptness  and  precision  demanded  in  drill  and 
exercises  keep  the  mind  continually  on  the  alert. 

As  the  training  of  the  will  consists  in  overcoming 


JULES  PAYOT  259 

sloth,  ejffeminacy,  and  bodily  indolence,  and  in  fight- 
ing against  any  tendency  to  selfishness,  irritability  of 
temper,  or  pride,  so,  letting  thoughts  and  acts  be 
guided  by  some  truly  stimulating  moral  principle,  we 
easily  see  that  no  life  can  be  compared  to  that  of  a 
soldier  in  opportunities  of  development  in  the  train- 
ing of  the  will. 

In  short,  a  teacher  may  gain  real  moral  advantage 
through  military  service.  With  his  regiment  he  will 
learn  the  great  lesson  of  self-effacement  which  the 
army  teaches ;  he  will  come  to  feel  the  insignificance 
of  the  individual  where  there  is  no  solidarity ;  he  will 
direct  his  energy  toward  the  control  of  his  body  and 
toward  subordinating  individual  wishes  and  instincts 
to  the  higher  law  of  patriotism. 

Upon  resuming  his  duties  in  school,  he  will  be  quite 
prepared  to  carry  on  the  great  work  of  self-control, 
and  to  let  his  thoughts  and  acts  be  guided  by  the 
manly  discipline  of  duty,  which  increases  the  effective- 
ness of  individual  effort  an  hundred-fold  by  bringing 
into  collaboration  the  efforts  of  noble  minds. 


LOUIS  LIARD 

Louis  Liard  (1846-1917),  lycee  teacher,  professor  of  philosophy, 
rector  of  the  Academy  of  Caen,  director  of  higher  education  at  the 
ministry  of  public  instruction,  successor  of  Greard  in  the  vice- 
rectorship  of  the  University  of  Paris  (1902),  member  of  the  higher 
coimcil  of  public  instruction,  member  of  the  Institute,  grand  oflScer 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  Administrator,  philosopher,  author  of 
UenseigneTnent  sup&rieur  en  France,  and  numerous  books  on  phi- 
losophy and  education. 

THE  PLACE  OF  SCIENCE  IN  SECONDARY 
EDUCATION 

In  secondary  education,  the  study  of  science,  as  well 
as  of  all  other  subjects,  should  contribute  to  build  up 
the  complete  man.  If  the  sciences  do  this,  they  too,  in 
their  own  way  and  in  the  broad  sense  of  the  term,  are 
humanities,  "scientific  humanities,"  as  one  of  the  most 
ardent  partisans  of  classical  culture  has  not  hesi- 
tated to  call  them.  Their  proper  function  is  to  co- 
operate with  the  means  best  suited  to  this  end  in 
cultivating  in  the  mind  whatever  helps  to  ascertain 
scientific  truth :  observation,  comparison,  classifica- 
tion, and  the  capacity  for  planning  experiments  and 
discovering  analogies;  to  awaken  and  develop  that 
sense  of  the  real  and  the  possible  which  is  not  less 
important  than  the  idealistic  spirit;  finally,  and 
thereby  they  become  latent  but  none  the  less  effective 
teachers  of  philosophy,  it  is  their  function  to  teach 
the  mind  not  to  think  in  fragments  but  to  understand 
that  every  fragment  is  part  of  a  whole.  Thus  they 
possess  that  general  character  which  is  commonly 
regarded  as  typical  of  the  varied  course  of  study  af- 
forded by  secondary  instruction. 

860 


LOUIS  LIARD  261 

Properly  to  perform  this  function,  it  is  evident  that 
the  teaching  of  science  should  appeal  especially  to  the 
active  powers  of  the  mind,  to  that  very  activity  by 
means  of  which  the  sciences  are  built  up.  Doubtless 
memory  has  a  part  to  play  in  scientific  instruction, 
but  not  the  principal  part.  The  purpose  is  to  create 
accurate  perception  of  facts,  power  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  real  and  the  unreal,  between  the  true  and 
the  false,  and  to  attain  both  accuracy  of  reasoning 
and  a  clear  realization  of  what  can  be  established  with 
certainty.  Consequently,  there  is  nothing  more  con- 
trary to  true  scientific  teaching  than  to  pour  into  a 
passive  brain  through  books  or  even  by  word  of  mouth 
—  notwithstanding  the  superiority  of  the  latter  means 
of  transmission  —  a  mass  of  abstractions  and  facts 
to  be  learned  by  heart.  This  immediately  becomes 
verbahsm,  in  other  words  a  scourge.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  end  in  view  is  to  create  spontaneity  in  the 
pupil,  to  bring  his  mental  capacity  into  play,  to  pro- 
mote personal  effort  on  his  part,  in  short  to  make 
him  capable  of  action.  The  old  adage  of  the  phi- 
losopher, "knowing  is  doing,"  is  always  true.  Here 
as  elsewhere  what  really  benefits  the  student  is  what 
he  can  produce,  not  what  he  can  reproduce. 

I  pass  on  to  less  general  remarks  concerning  the 
different  sciences.  It  is  asserted  that  for  the  last 
twenty  years  mathematics  has  been  passing  through 
a  crisis  of  transcendental  idealism.  It  is  supposed 
to  have  risen  to  dizzy  heights  and  to  have  lost  sight 
of  the  earth  and  of  space  itself.  One  cannot  regret 
this,  since  as  a  consequence  we  have  work  of  the  first 
rank  which  does  honor  to  French  genius.    And  then. 


262    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

who  knows?  Some  day,  perhaps,  out  of  "hyper- 
space"  there  will  come  to  us  one  of  those  discoveries 
which  change  the  face  of  things.  But  that  which  is 
in  place  in  higher  education  is  not  in  its  proper  place 
in  secondary  education.  I  am  told  that  in  the  last  few 
years  methods  not  devoid  of  danger  have  penetrated  into 
the  former  under  the  influence  of  the  highest  speculation. 
Let  us  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  in  our  classes  we 
are  to  form,  not  candidates  for  the  Section  of  Higher 
Analysis  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  but  clear  heads 
that  can  see  accurately  and  reason  accurately. 

This  being  the  case,  is  it  well  to  start  pupils  from  the 
beginning  with  purely  nominal  definitions?  Is  it 
well  to  install  symbols  in  their  minds  as  rules  before 
having  thoroughly  taught  them  what  those  symbols 
mean,  and  to  let  them  struggle  with  the  interminable 
expansion  of  these  symbols  in  the  abstract  without 
frequent  recurrence  to  realities?  Is  it  well  to  teach 
them  a  science  parallel  to  mechanics  without  showing 
them,  if  only  on  a  bicycle,  the  parts  of  a  real  machine 
and  the  transmission  of  real  movement?  Is  it  well, 
instead  of  showing  them  the  planets  in  the  heavens, 
to  confine  oneself  to  pointing  out  "orbs"  on  the  black- 
board, so  that  for  them  there  exist,  not  the  real  sun 
and  the  real  moon,  but  merely  the  "sun  and  moon  of 
the  classroom  "  ?  ^; 

Does  it  not  follow  that  many  of  our  students,  baffled 
from  the  start  and  perceiving  no  connection  between 
mathematics  and  reality,  imagine  that  they  have  to 
do  with  an  impenetrable  world,  accessible  only  to 
some  few  specially  constructed  minds,  and  for  this 
reason  make  no  effort  to  penetrate  further?     Does 


LOUIS  LIARD  263 

it  not  follow  that  even  those  who  have  been  able  to 
grasp  the  subject  by  continually  living  in  the  abstract 
without  frequent  enough  reversion  to  realities  come 
to  consider  mathematics  as  logic,  as  a  convention, 
and  as  a  game  ?  If  we  are  not  careful,  this  may  shortly 
become  verbalism  —  in  other  words,  the  thing  that  is 
least  instructive  in  the  world. 

One  word  now  about  the  natural  sciences.  It  is 
here  that  the  verbalism  is  to  be  feared.  These  sciences 
have  so  many  things  to  name,  and  they  employ  such 
scientific  nomenclature,  that  their  aspect  suflSces  to 
give  the  child  the  illusion  of  knowledge.  Pasting  labels 
on  brains  is  really  not  doing  the  work  of  an  educator. 

Another  obstacle  in  this  same  line  is  the  abuse  of 
detail.  Before  being  synthetical,  the  natural  sciences 
are  analytical,  and  they  delve  deep  into  analysis. 
This  is  not  a  reason  for  pretending  to  initiate  the 
students,  even  those  of  the  philosophy  form,  into  all 
the  details  of  organisms  and  for  making  them  learn 
interminable  lists  of  muscles,  vessels,  and  apophyses. 
On  the  other  hand  there  is  a  different  obstacle  in  the 
abuse  of  biological  metaphysics.  I  approve  of  its 
being  taught  in  graduate  work.  There  it  is  in  place; 
it  is  a  stimulus  to  research.  But  in  the  lycee,  and 
especially  in  the  sixth  and  fifth  forms  where  it  has 
sometimes  been  found,  is  it  not  a  contradiction  and  a 
danger  ?  —  a  contradiction,  because  this  biological 
metaphysics  is  valuable  only  as  the  provisional  synthe- 
sis of  an  infinite  number  of  facts  which  the  student 
cannot  know;  a  danger,  because  it  transforms  into 
dogmatism  a  training  which  should  first  of  all  devote 
itself    to    teaching    things.     Certainly    I    should   not 


264    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

wish  to  eliminate  every  allusion  to  the  hypotheses  of 
scientists  concerning  life,  but  I  believe  in  employing 
them  provided  they  are  used  legitimately,  and  that 
only  those  portions  are  utihzed  which  can  illumine  the 
way  of  the  pupil  across  the  very  limited  number  of  facts 
which  are  known  to  him. 

It  seems  to  me  easy  to  avoid  these  obstacles  if  one 
is  convinced  that  the  teaching  of  the  natural  sciences 
in  the  lycee  should  be  an  educational  discipline,  and 
not  a  burdening  of  the  memory.  First,  accurate  per- 
ception of  facts  will  cultivate  the  faculty  of  observation ; 
then,  comparison  of  facts  will  cultivate  the  faculty  of 
comparison ;  finally,  following  these  comparisons,  prac- 
tical connections  established  between  facts  will  cultivate 
the  faculty  of  generalization,  thus  giving  the  first  con- 
ception of  law,  the  first  stirring  of  the  scientific  sense. 

In  each  one  of  these  steps  it  is  essential  that  the 
pupil,  large  or  small,  act  for  himself  as  far  as  possible, 
first  in  order  to  see.  At  the  outset  his  eye  can  read, 
but  can  it  see,  and  see  accurately.'^  This  it  must  be 
taught  to  do.  Always  take  pains  to  show  the  things 
themselves,  not  from  a  distance  as  at  the  theater,  but 
close  by,  very  close  by,  making  sure  that  the  pupil 
perceives  them  exactly.  Then  make  comparisons, 
which  in  fact  is  still  seeing,  but  seeing  simultaneously 
or  in  succession  and  distinguishing,  among  several 
objects,  the  unlike  from  the  like.  Finally,  comes 
generalization,  or  passing  from  facts  to  concepts. 
With  systematic  direction  and  well-timed  help  is  it 
impossible  that  a  pupil  of  average  intelligence  should 
manage  to  grasp  the  common  characteristics  of  the 
objects  he  is  comparing.'^    If  one  is  careful  to  choose 


LOUIS  LIARD  «65 

but  a  limited  number  of  types,  selecting  them  for  their 
significance  and  trimming  them  down  to  their  es- 
sential features,  is  it  impossible  to  make  him  climb  by 
himself,  as  if  from  story  to  story,  toward  those  general 
relations  which  prove  the  continuity  and  the  unity 
of  biological  phenomena?  And  later,  in  the  upper 
classes,  if  one  applies  oneself  to  making  the  student 
notice  the  determinism  of  vital  phenomena,  the  relation 
between  organ  and  function,  the  coordination  of  organs 
and  functions,  if  by  means  of  a  few  well-chosen  ex- 
amples f  roi^  the  works  of  the  great  scientists  he  is  then 
shown  how  scientific  discovery  is  made,  noting  the 
relative  importance  of  imagination  and  experiment, 
is  it  impossible  to  make  experimental  study  of  the 
natural  sciences  contribute  to  the  highest  develop- 
ment of  his  intellect  ? 

Perhaps  too  great  a  place  in  the  education  of  French 
youth  cannot  be  given  to  the  physical  sciences.  This 
country,  which  is  before  all  else  of  an  idealistic  and 
deductive  turn  of  mind,  needs  to  plunge  into  realism. 
Not  that  it  has  not  already  made  many  discoveries 
in  the  experimental  sciences,  great  discoveries  which 
are  beginnings  and  which  need  afterwards  an  army  of 
workers  to  make  them  effective;  but  on  the  whole 
the  scientific  education  of  the  French  youth  seems  to 
have  been  turned  too  much  toward  abstract  mathe- 
matics and  not  enough  toward  experimental  science. 
Without  speaking  here  of  practical  utility,  which  con- 
tinues to  increase  daily,  it  is  from  experimental  science 
that  we  derive  two  essential  notions,  two  habits  of 
thought  which  are  fundamental :  the  notion  of  "posi- 
tive truth,"  that  is  to  say  of  a  fact  established  by  ex- 


266    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

periment,  and  with  it  the  habit  of  looking  upon  a  fact 
as  a  fact  which  must  be  taken  into  account  and  which 
can  be  governed  or  modified  only  by  other  facts; 
secondly,  the  more  general  notion  of  natural  law, 
that  is  to  say  of  the  relation  of  individual  facts  among 
themselves,  and  at  the  same  time  the  habit  of  con- 
sidering objective  truth  independent  of  our  desires 
and  of  our  wishes. 

In  this  order  of  science  nothing  less  than  a  com- 
plete change  of  method  was  requisite.  Under  the 
influence  of  causes  already  remote,  which  are  un- 
necessary to  recall  here,  science  was  long  taught  by 
methods  which  could  only  give  the  pupils  an  idea 
diametrically  opposed  to  its  true  nature.  By  the 
method  of  exposition,  teachers  presented  science  from 
the  deductive  point  of  view.  First  of  all  the  law  was 
announced  in  the  form  of  a  theorem ;  then  followed  its 
demonstration,  always  as  if  it  were  merely  a  theorem. 
Only  later  did  the  fact  come  to  light,  and  then  it 
appeared  as  an  illustration  and  not  as  the  source  of  the 
law.  As  the  experiment  was  finally  presented,  it  be- 
came merely  an  aid  to  the  memory,  associating  an  image 
with  a  formula.  Today  the  experimental  sciences 
proceed  in  exactly  the  opposite  fashion. 

The  more  the  minds  of  our  race  are  inclined  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  highest  generalizations  by  a  method  of 
leaps  and  bounds,  in  order  subsequently  to  treat  every- 
thing deductively,  the  more  necessary  it  is  to  incul- 
cate in  them  in  youth  an  exact  sense  of  what  is  real, 
and  with  this  end  in  view  to  teach  them  real  facts, 
following  the  same  order  in  which  the  human  mind 
estabhshes  and  explains  these  facts. 


JULES  TANNERY 

Jules  Tannery  (1848-1910),  student  in  the  scientific  section  of 
the  Higher  Normal  School  in  the  rue  d'Ulm.  Agrege  in  1869,  he 
taught  successively  in  the  boys'  lycees  at  Rennes,  Caen,  and  at  the 
lycee  St.  Louis  in  Paris.  After  substituting  for  a  short  time  at 
the  Sorbonne,  he  was  appointed  lecturer  at  the  Higher  Normal 
School  (1881),  and  three  years  later  he  became  head  of  the  science 
section  and  assistant  director  of  the  school,  continuing  to  discharge 
this  double  function  until  his  death.  In  1882  he  was  appointed 
lecturer  in  mathematics  at  the  Higher  Normal  School  for  Girls 
which  had  just  been  founded  at  Sevres.  In  1907  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences. 

The  different  functions  he  thus  performed  gave  him  an  oppor- 
tunity to  exert  a  great  influence  on  the  development  of  education 
in  France  in  aH  its  stages.  The  way  in  which  this  influence  was 
exerted  may  be  gathered  from  the  extracts  given  below.  Jules 
Tannery  had  a  remarkably  keen  and  penetrating  mind,  which  could 
have  been  turned  to  literary  study  as  well  as  to  a  scientific  career. 
His  pedagogical  influence  will  survive  him,  thanks  to  the  scholarly 
works  he  has  published  and  the  pupils  he  was  able  to  train. 

THE  TEACHING  OF  ELEMENTARY  GEOMETRY 

"Mathematics,"  says  Descartes  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Discourse  on  Method,  "has  very  subtle  inventions 
which  can  be  of  great  service,  as  well  to  satisfy  the 
curious  as  to  facilitate  the  arts  and  lighten  the  work 
of  mankind."  As  for  facilitating  the  arts,  that  is 
very  uncertain.  Lightening  the  work  of  mankind, 
however,  appears  to  me  more  doubtful ;  in  fact,  it  is 
the  contrary  that  we  see.  The  first  part  of  the  great 
geometrician's  oft-quoted  phrase  has  always  reminded 
me  of  the  "goose  game  that  we  have  revived  from  the 
Greeks  —  well  adapted  to  pass  the  time  when  there 
is  nothing  to  do,"  and  I  am  fairly  sure  that  the  pre- 
vailing conception  in  the  teaching  profession  is  that 
mathematics  exists  to  satisfy  the  curious. 

267 


268    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

Our  teaching  easily  becomes  ornamental.  We  ex- 
cuse ourselves  for  its  superfluousness  by  harping  upon 
the  training  of  the  mind  to  which  everything  else  must 
be  sacrificed,  and  we  apply  the  fine  epithet  "disin- 
terested" to  that  teaching  whose  uselessness  stares  us 
in  the  face.     Let  us  discard  all  such  twaddle. 

Disinterestedness  is  a  fine  thing.  This  is  no  place 
to  speak  of  the  interest  some  people  have  in  conserv- 
ing the  teaching  they  call  "disinterested,"  —  that  could 
not  apply  to  any  of  the  readers  of  the  Revue;  but 
really  why  is  not  one  disinterested  when  one  strives 
to  be  useful  to  others?  To  be  ashamed  of  utility, 
what  foolishness !  Whatever  answers  to  man's  needs, 
whatever  affords  him  satisfaction,  is  useful.  The 
utility  of  a  subject  is  in  a  way  the  measure  of  its  hu- 
manity. It  is  not  worth  while,  perhaps,  to  say  that 
there  are  various  and  sundry  needs,  and  that  scientific 
teaching  does  not  pretend  to  satisfy  them  all;  but  I 
certainly  should  like  people  to  discontinue  this  re- 
proach of  "utilitarianism"  directed  at  those  who 
think  that  teaching  should  consider  the  needs  of  the 
taught. 

As  for  training  the  mind,  with  which  it  is  certain  we 
should  be  occupied  in  primary  teaching  as  elsewhere, 
I  ask  in  what  way  uselessness  helps  matters.  Do  you 
flatter  yourselves  that  children  seldom  suspect  this 
uselessness,  or  that  their  vague  misgivings  spur  them 
on  to  effort?  On  the  contrary,  is  it  not  the  real 
reason  for  the  lassitude  that  comes  over  them,  for  this 
disgust  with  intellectual  work  that  one  meets  so  fre- 
quently in  school  and  lycee  ? 

To  satisfy  the  curious  is  very  well;     but  first  we 


JULES  TANNERY  269 

may  have  to  awaken  the  curiosity.  Do  you  think 
that  children  of  thirteen  or  fourteen  have  a  natural 
taste  for  logical  abstractions,  for  empty  reasoning,  for 
demonstrations  that  seem  to  them  far  less  clear  than 
the  statement  of  the  problem  ?  Doubtless  they  must 
be  taught  to  reason  well,  but  to  reason  about  realities, 
or  at  least  about  models  or  pictures  that  come  some- 
where near  reality,  that  are  simplified  forms  of  what 
they  see  and  touch.  They  must  be  shown  the  facility 
which,  according  to  Descartes,  geometry  brings  to  all 
the  arts.  How  should  this  drawing  be  made?  How 
should  that  field  be  measured  ? 

As  Clairant  in  his  Elements  of  Geometry  explains 
how  a  triangle  is  determined  by  its  base  and  the  two 
base  angles,  he  shows  how  the  distance  of  an  inac- 
cessible point  may  be  found  by  constructing  on  the 
ground  a  triangle  equal  to  a  triangle  of  which  the  dis- 
tance sought  is  one  of  the  sides.  He  uses  for  this  only 
rude  instruments  easy  to  devise  and  construct,  but 
he  gives  the  solution  of  a  little  riddle  which  will  fix 
in  the  mind  of  the  pupil  one  of  the  cases  of  the  equality 
of  triangles.  Later  the  same  principle  permits  Clairant 
to  illustrate  the  corresponding  case  in  the  theory  of 
similitude.  According  to  my  way  of  thinking,  that 
is  the  order  of  ideas  which  ought  to  be  taken  up  with 
beginners.  They  will  have  to  reason  about  objects; 
they  must  be  taught  to  look  at  objects,  to  eliminate 
this  or  that  feature  which  does  not  interest  the  geo- 
metrician, to  simplify  them,  to  recognize  their  essential 
characteristics,  to  see  them  in  their  geometrical  as- 
pect, to  reproduce  them  by  drawing,  to  fix  their 
knowledge  by  measurement.     Far  from  teaching  our 


270    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  mEALS  OF  TODAY 

pupils  to  be  on  their  guard  against  intuition,  show 
them  that  they  already  possess  it,  gradually  give  them 
confidence  in  themselves.  First  of  all  we  must  in- 
terest them;  tediimi  with  its  consequent  depression 
is  the  real  enemy.  As  soon  as  possible,  let  the  effort 
demanded  of  the  child  bring  its  own  reward.  I  might 
say  much  on  this  subject,  on  the  number  of  bored 
youths  who  come  out  of  our  lycees,  about  the  silly 
creatures  who  have  come  to  regard  boredom  as  a  mark 
of  distinction.  With  regard  to  those  who  will  not  have 
the  means  of  acquiring  such  distinction,  it  is  quite 
useless  to  make  them  taste  in  school  the  boredom  that 
they  will  not  have  the  time  to  cultivate  in  after  life. 

Even  though  it  is  clear  what  the  truly  logical  teach- 
ing of  the  beginnings  of  geometry  should  be,^  no  one 
would  dare  require  it. 

M.  Poincare  thus  expresses  himself  in  his  anxiety 
to  have  perfect  logical  precision,  freed  from  all  intui- 
tion, of  which  I  have  already  spoken :  "It  is  useless 
to  point  out  how  disastrous  it  (i.e.,  perfectly  logical 
precision)  would  be  in  teaching  or  how  harmful  to 
the  development  of  the  minds  of  our  pupils;    what  a 

*  M.  Tannery  had  previously  set  forth  in  the  first  part  of  this  article 
the  work  of  logically  rebuilding  the  foundations  of  geometry  which  had 
been  realized  in  the  nineteenth  century.  In  it  he  called  attention  to  the 
way  the  fundamental  axioms  were  submitted  to  a  minute  criticism  which 
had  for  results : 

(1)  To  reSstablish  the  entire  series  of  standard  propositions  in  a  manner 
rigorously  accurate  but  extremely  abstract,  by  starting  from  a  system  of 
postulates  which  were  accepted  without  demonstration  but  which  were 
necessary  to  this  reconstruction  and  suflBcient  for  it. 

(2)  To  construct  by  arbitrary  negation  of  this  or  that  postulate  sev- 
eral other  geometries  equally  rigorous  but  different  from  the  Euclidean 
geometry. 


JULES  TANNERY  271 

withering  effect  it  would  have  on  the  seeker,  whose 
originality  it  would  promptly  suppress."  M.  Hilbert 
considers  twenty  axioms  distributed  into  five  groups. 
I  shall  cite  several  in  order  that  all  the  divergence  be- 
tween the  end  he  pursues  and  the  end  of  elementary 
teaching  may  be  clearly  seen : 

If  A,  By  and  C  are  points  on  a  straight  line,  and  if  B  is  between 
A  and  C,  B  is  between  C  and  A. 

If  A  and  C  are  two  points  on  a  straight  line,  there  are  at  least 
one  point  B  which  is  between  A  and  C,  and  at  least  one  point  D 
such  that  C  is  between  A  and  D. 

Of  three  points  on  a  straight  line,  there  is  always  one,  and  only 
one,  which  lies  between  the  others. 

Who  would  maintain  that  the  teaching  of  geometry  to 
children  should  be  begun  with  propositions  of  this  sort  ? 

But  that  is  not  all.  The  point  is  to  teach  the  whole 
geometry,  being  careful  to  rely  only  on  the  twenty 
axioms  and  never  to  appeal  to  intuition.  Who  would 
be  capable  of  it  ?  Perhaps  a  few  of  the  members  of  the 
Section  of  Higher  Mathematics  in  the  Institute,  and 
even  then  not  without  taking  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 
Furthermore,  I  do  not  think  I  am  going  very  far 
wrong  when  I  say  that  none  of  them  would  pretend  to 
be  followed  by  many  of  his  fellow  members  so  closely 
that  he  might  ask  them  from  time  to  time  if  it  were 
quite  certain  that  he  had  not  made  a  mistake. 

What  is  the  use  of  insisting  upon  following  an  im- 
possible method  which  no  one  takes  seriously?  It 
is  indispensable  because  it  is  true  that  in  logic  one 
should  not,  nay  cannot,  stop  on  the  road,  and  if  one 
wishes  to  form  pure  logicians,  one  must  go  to  the  very 
end  of  the  Euclidean  method.  .  .  . 


272    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  mEALS  OF  TODAY 

Let  us  have  the  courage,  then,  to  make  up  our  minds 
to  show  things  to  children  and  rid  them  of  that  reason- 
ing which,  I  repeat,  seems  to  them  much  more  obscure 
than  the  proposition  itself.  At  least  in  elementary 
work  we  can  follow  such  a  course  with  profit,  teaching 
the  children  geometry  first  and  allowing  them  to  see 
many  results  that  they  consider  obvious.  We  can 
begin  to  train  them  in  geometrical  reasoning,  have 
them  discover  interesting  properties  in  figures  that 
they  had  not  seen  at  first,  lead  them  up  to  a  few  of  the 
statements  in  which  the  intuition  and  the  informal 
arguments  that  satisfied  them  hitherto  shall  no  longer 
suffice.  Then,  if  need  be,  we  can  set  a  few  of  those 
little  traps  where  intuition  will  lead  them  astray,  so 
that  the  mistake  they  fall  into  may  astonish  and  dis- 
turb them  while  at  the  same  time  it  amuses  them. 
Thus  they  will  feel  the  necessity  of  turning  back  and 
tightening  their  reasoning,  of  establishing  a  solid  basis, 
a  treasure-house  of  very  positive  truths. 

It  is  not  important  as  yet  that  this  store  should  be 
perfectly  organized.  Let  us  not  stop  to  inventory 
it  curiously,  or  to  study  carefully  its  constituent  parts, 
to  eliminate  everything  that  is  not  indispensable. 
Let  the  child  understand  thoroughly  how  to  use  it 
and  then  let  him  refrain  from  drawing  upon  outside 
sources.  Some  day,  perhaps,  he  will  apply  a  process 
of  selection  and  will  wish  to  get  on  with  more  meager 
resources.     This  will  be  the  proper  time  to  satisfy  him. 


ALFRED  CROISET 

Alfred  Croiset  (1845-  ),  professor  of  Greek  and  dean  of  the 
faculty  of  letters  at  the  Sorbonne ;  ^member  of  the ,  Institute,  and 
one  of  the  principal  founders  of  the  Ecole  des  Hautes  Etudes  Sociales. 
Among  other  works  he  has  published  a  "History  of  Greek  Litera- 
tiu-e"  (1887)  and  numerous  lectures  to  be  found  in  the  volumes  of 
the  Biblioth^que  GinSrale  des  Sciences  Sociales. 

THE  STUDY  OF  LATIN  AND  GREEK  AND 
THE  DEMOCRACY  1 

The  study  of  Greek  and  Latin  is  now  very  much  under 
fire.  Many  good  people  are  convinced  that  in  second- 
ary educatioti  there  would  be  everything  to  gain  from 
eliminating  Greek  and  Latin.  They  would  like  to  see 
these  two  languages  reserved  for  specialists,  as  are 
Arabic  and  Sanskrit,  and  give  their  places  in  the  class- 
room to  modern  foreign  languages,  science,  and  the 
mother  tongue. 

For  my  part,  I  hold  the  opposite  view.  I  believe 
that  Greek  and  Latin  still  have  an  important  part  to 
play  in  our  democratic  society.  But  I  will  acknowledge 
that  the  question  deserves  examination,  that  the 
reasons  which  until  now  have  been  responsible  for  the 
preponderance  of  Greek  and  Latin  may  no  longer  be 
valid,  and  that  the  methods  which  have  been  in  use 
since  the  Renaissance  may  no  longer  answer  our  needs. 

The  study  of  Greek  and  Latin  is  not  the  unique 
and  sacrosanct  form  of  secondary  culture.  I  can 
easily  conceive  a  very  good  type  of  secondary  instruc- 
tion without  Latin  and  Greek,  like  that  at  present 
given  our  girls.    But  for  boys,  whose  minds  are  less 

^  Extracts  from  a  lecture  delivered  at  the  Ecole  des  HaiUes  Etudes  So- 
ciales, 1903. 

«7S 


274    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  1X)DAY 

supple  and  discriminating,  especially  if  they  are  to 
devote  the  greater  part  of  their  lives  to  intellectual  pur- 
suits, I  hold  that  there  is  a  great  advantage  to  be  de- 
rived from  first  receiving  the  solid  preparation  afforded 
by  Greek  and  Latin,  which  will  estabhsh  their  subse- 
quent work  upon  a  sounder  and  more  secure  basis. 

The  method  to  be  adopted  should  be  determined  by 
the  conception  of  the  end  in  view.  We  are  not  try- 
ing to  form  amiable  dilettanti,  but  vigorous  minds, 
capable  of  producing  rich  harvests  of  ideas  and  deeds, 
thanks  to  the  sound  culture  they  have  received.  It  is 
in  this  measure  and  in  this  spirit  that  I  believe  in  the 
utility  of  Greek  and  Latin.  Let  us  try  to  see  in  what 
they  can  be  useful  and  on  what  conditions. 

Even  the  most  determined  adversaries  of  the  classics 
cannot  disregard  one  essential  point :  that  for  us  an- 
cient times  are  not  something  distant  and  dead,  foreign 
to  our  present  humanity,  but  that  they  constitute  the 
groundwork  of  our  intellectual  and  moral  culture. 
They  form  a  considerable  part  of  ourselves.  Our  lit- 
erature, our  philosophy,  our  private  and  public  moral- 
ity, are  all  impregnated  with  classicism.  We  have  the 
ancient  culture  in  our  blood  and  in  the  very  marrow 
of  our  bones.  The  case  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  civil- 
izations is  not  the  same  as  that  of  the  Oriental  civiliza- 
tions, which  latter  have  influenced  us  but  indirectly; 
it  is  also  different  from  that  of  the  great  modern  civil- 
izations, whose  development  has  been  parallel  to  ours 
and  whose  influence  on  us  has  been  intermittent. 
The  influence  of  the  ancients  has  been  continuous  and 
uninterrupted. 

When  we  study  their  thought,  we  do  not  become 


ALFRED  CROISET  9,75 

mere  curious  dilettanti.  We  go  back  to  our  own 
origins;  we  take  the  river  at  its  source,  which  is  the 
sole  means  of  knowing  it  well  and  of  not  making  a 
mistake  as  to  its  direction.  Ignorance  of  this  part  of 
our  origin  would  be  ignorance  of  ourselves.  Volun- 
tary neglect  of  our  past,  of  such  a  living  and  ever 
present  past,  would  be  a  real  mutilation  of  our  intel- 
lect. We  might  as  well  close  our  eyes  to  everything 
beyond  the  horizon  of  our  present  generation  and 
declare,  for  instance,  that  the  French  of  the  twentieth 
century  have  no  need  of  knowing  what  took  place  in 
France  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

The  whole  question,  then,  is  to  know  whether  it  is 
practically  possible  to  give  our  pupils  a  direct  knowl- 
edge of  the  original  works.  Now  I  believe  that  it  is 
not  only  possible  but  easy,  and  that  there  are  very 
important  pedagogical  reasons  for  keeping  up  the 
study  of  the  ancient  languages  and  for  permitting  at 
least  a  part  of  the  younger  generation  to  become  di- 
rectly acquainted  with  two  literatures  admirably 
adapted  to  their  education. 

La  Bruy^re's  remark  on  the  study  of  languages  is 
always  true;  this  study  is  admirably  suited  to  chil- 
dren of  a  certain  age,  whose  fresh  memories  are  ca- 
pable of  retaining  a  rich  vocabulary  and  whose  inquisi- 
tive minds  take  pleasure  in  every  novelty. 

Later  the  more  vigorous  intellect  of  the  young  man 
will  be  more  intent  upon  objects  and  upon  ideas. 
During  the  early  years,  however,  the  mere  mastery  of 
words  has  an  attraction  for  the  child,  and  thus  a  quan- 
tity of  half -obscure  notions  enter  imperceptibly  into  the 
treasures  of  his  mind,  enriching  it  for  the  future. 


276    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

Moreover,  this  is  only  natural,  for  the  child  learns 
to  think  by  learning  to  talk.  His  memory  retains  the 
words  first.  The  meaning  of  the  words  reveals  itself 
to  him  little  by  little,  so  that  he  finds  he  has  acquired 
ideas  without  being  aware  of  it. 

Even  independently  of  the  literary  value  of  the  text, 
the  pedagogical  advantages  of  this  study  are  very 
great.  .  .  . 

What  is  translating  ?  It  is  re-thinking  in  a  different 
language  the  thought  of  the  original  author.  The 
child  who  translates  is  not  forced  to  invent;  but  he 
must  understand,  and  understand  with  precision.  He 
must  discriminate  and  avoid  all  approximation.  He 
must  seek  out  in  the  limited  store  of  French  words  in 
his  memory  those  words  and  expressions  which  will 
set  forth  the  given  idea  in  its  finest  shades  of  meaning. 
He  would  not  have  been  capable  of  inventing  the  idea 
himself,  for  it  is  a  man's  idea,  and  he  is  only  a  child, 
but  he  makes  it  his  own  by  the  knowledge  he  acquires 
of  it.  This  calls  for  serious  effort,  but  not  for  an  effort 
beyond  his  strength.  In  this  struggle  with  a  thought 
that  is  stronger  than  his  own,  he  gains  strength  im- 
perceptibly, as  if  by  a  cleverly  graded  course  of  gym- 
nastics. 

Assuredly  the  modern  foreign  languages  can  also 
furnish  some  good  subject  matter  for  translation,  but 
their  qualities  are  not  quite  the  same.  Sometimes  they 
are  too  easy,  for  the  modern  nations  have  developed 
along  parallel  lines  and  have  borrowed  much  from  each 
other.  Thus  it  has  come  about  that  in  the  different 
modern  languages  there  is  a  considerable  portion  which 
is  cosmopolitan,  so  to  speak,  and  which  is  transcribed 


ALFRED  CROISET  «77 

rather  than  translated.  In  other  respects  these  texts 
are  too  difficult,  or  at  least  too  far  removed  from  our 
own  particular  inclinations,  for  the  non-cosmopolitan 
portion  of  the  modern  languages  often  corresponds  to 
a  particular  turn  of  mind  or  disposition  which  scarcely 
lends  itself  to  a  really  French  translation.  It  is  not 
the  same  with  the  ancient  languages,  which  are  equally 
educative  both  through  their  similarity  to  our  language 
and  through  their  differences  from  it.  They  are  gen- 
erally more  concrete,  more  practical,  more  simple  in 
expression.  ,.  In  this  respect  they  are  admirably  adapted 
to  children.  And  although  synthetical  in  their  gram- 
matical forms,  a  characteristic  which  obliges  the  child 
to  do  some  very  useful  analysis,  they  are  analytical  in 
the  general  construction  of  their  sentences  and  of  their 
thought.  They  unite  imagination  and  reason,  passion 
and  dialectic,  in  a  truly  exquisite  harmony.  They  are 
neither  apocalyptic  nor  pedantic.  They  are  reasonable 
and  luminous. 

If  we  consider  not  only  the  languages  but  the  liter- 
atures of  antiquity,  the  reasons  for  teaching  Latin  and 
Greek  will  appear  even  more  evident,  and  I  dare  say 
that  in  order  not  to  feel  their  value  one  would  have  to 
have  a  strange  lack  of  comprehension  of  the  child's 
aptitudes  and  of  the  needs  of  our  pedagogy. 

From  this  point  of  view,  the  chief  merit  of  the 
ancient  literatures  is  the  merit  of  being  young.  By 
the  nature  of  their  ideas  and  sentiments  they  adapt 
themselves  very  readily  to  the  needs  of  education. 
The  highest  ideas,  those  most  useful  for  the  formation 
of  the  mind  and  character,  stand  forth  in  a  light  which 
renders  them  easily  accessible  to  the  child. 


278    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

Most  of  our  own  great  writers  are  very  complex  and 
scholarly,  very  highly  civilized.  They  wrote  for  men 
like  themselves,  on  subjects  and  in  a  spirit  that  scarcely 
conform  to  the  needs  of  the  child  or  even  of  the  adoles- 
cent. On  the  other  hand,  the  ancient  literatiu'es  in 
which  young  civilizations  express  themselves  are 
naturally  simple,  easily  understood  by  young  people 
who  are  in  the  stage  of  individual  development  which 
corresponds  to  that  represented  by  Greek  and  Roman 
society  in  the  development  of  humanity. 

Homer  and  Herodotus,  literally  speaking,  are  of  the 
same  age  as  our  children.  The  psychology  of  an 
Achilles,  even  that  of  a  Ulysses,  cannot  be  equaled  in 
simplicity.  Compare  the  soul  of  a  hero  of  antiquity 
with  that  of  a  Werther  or  a  Faust.  The  narratives  of 
Herodotus  are  as  good  as  fairy  tales  in  their  popular 
naivete  and  careful  grace.  Nevertheless,  this  naive 
simplicity  is  sublime.  The  stories  of  Leonidas,  The- 
mistocles,  and  Aristides  are  full  of  admirable  teachings, 
at  once  very  noble  and  very  readily  understood  by 
young  minds.  Even  the  philosophy  and  the  political 
doctrines  of  antiquity  are  relatively  simple.  The  ideas 
which  inspired  Demosthenes  are  among  those  that  a 
young  man  can  understand  without  trouble  and  can 
enjoy  with  enthusiasm.  The  grandeur  of  Socrates  is 
very  simple,  and  his  profundity  is  full  of  good  nature. 

The  Romans  are  a  trifle  less  young,  to  be  sure.  How- 
ever, if  we  make  an  exception  of  Horace,  who  is  more 
suited  to  grown  men  than  to  children,  the  principal 
Latin  classic  writers  express  only  ideas  and  sentiments 
which  our  pupils  can  comprehend  without  diflSculty. 
Almost  the  whole  substance  of  the  classics  can  be 


ALFRED  CROISET  279 

offered  to  our  pupils  and  assimilated  by  them,  pro- 
vided only  the  master  know  how  to  choose  and  curtail, 
and  provided  he  avoid  becoming  a  slave  to  pedantic 
scruples  of  literary  fidelity  or  purism. 

The  ancients,  I  repeat,  are  our  contemporaries, 
even  more  than  the  men  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
They  express  the  ideas  which  form  the  basis  of  our 
civilization.  They  express  these  ideas  with  a  sim- 
plicity which  divests  them  of  their  seeming  diflBculties 
and  withdraws  them  from  all  minor  discussions  with 
which  subsequent  ages  have  enshrouded  them,  to  show 
them  to  us  anew  in  their  radiant  purity. 

Again,  their  distinguishing  mark  is  that  their  beauty 
consists  in  harmonious  reason.  Of  course  they  lack 
neither  imagination,  nor  passion,  nor  even  sensibility, 
but  it  is  not  in  these  qualities  that  they  stand  unrivaled ; 
it  is  rather  in  their  easy  balance,  their  beautifully 
simple  arrangement,  in  the  luminous  beauty  of  the 
whole  and  of  detail  which  fully  satisfies  and  delights 
the  reason.  Now  these  are  educative  qualities  in  the 
highest  degree.  Sensibility,  imagination,  and  passion 
are  personal  matters ;  they  are  accidental,  variable 
characteristics,  which  it  is  hardly  useful  and  which  it 
may  be  dangerous  to  cultivate.  Reason,  on  the  con- 
trary, serves  everybody  under  all  circumstances.  We 
cannot  strengthen  it  too  piuch.  It  is  the  universal 
language  by  means  of  which  men  understand  each 
other  and  draw  nearer  to  one  another. 


MADAME  JULES  FAVRE 

Madame  Jules  Favre  (1833-1896)  was  the  first  directress  of  the 
higher  normal  school  established  at  Sevres  immediately  after  the 
passage  of  the  law  providing  for  secondary  education  of  girls.  She 
was  head  of  the  school  from  1881  until  her  death  in  1896.  From 
her  youth  she  had  been  connected  with  private  schools  where, 
under  a  woman  whose  memory  she  revered,  Mademoiselle  Frere- 
jean,  she  had  gained  an  experience  which  had  in  no  way  paralyzed 
her  spirit  of  initiative.  Her  marriage  with  the  great  orator  Jules 
Favre  had  brought  her  in  close  touch  with  the  tragic  events  of 
1870-1871.  Thus  necessarily  her  conception  of  education  was  en- 
larged and  ennobled,  and  its  intellectual,  moral,  and  social  as- 
I>ects  were  intimately  united.  Without  pretension  and  without 
claiming  to  possess  a  philosophic  or  pedagogic  system,  she  had 
very  firm  convictions,  and  was  in  the  fullest  and  best  sense  of  the 
word  a  directress.  The  following  extracts  are  chosen  chiefly  from 
the  letters  which  she  untiringly  wrote  to  her  former  pupils,  who 
consulted  her  on  all  their  difficulties,  from  the  details  of  their  daily 
lives  to  problems  of  teaching  and  administration  and  the  affairs  of 
conscience. 

EXTRACTS   FROM   THE   LETTERS   OF   MADAME 
JULES  FAVRE 

While  aspiring  to  that  which  seems  most  noble,  do 
not  despair  if  you  do  not  attain  it  in  spite  of  your 
efforts.  Life  is  a  constant  struggle,  which  must  be 
endured  meekly  and  with  perseverance.  Emotional 
ecstasy  is  never  the  final  result,  and  it  is  usually  fol- 
lowed by  fits  of  weakness,  possibly  in  order  to  teach  us 
not  to  relax  and  not  to  have  too  much  ^^gfidence  in 
ourselves. 

I  must  scold  you,  my  dear  child,  not  beciiuse  you 
tell  me  everything  —  that  gives  me  much  pl^sure  — 
but  for  your  excessive  distrust  of  yourself,  which  makes 
you  seek  outside  and  above  yourself  for  the  inspiration 
you  need.     I  am  not  surprised  at  your  trying  experi- 


MADAME  JULES  FAVRE  281 

ences  in  that  great  intelligence  factory.  Certainly  in- 
spiration should  come  from  the  mind  that  directs,  but 
in  such  a  large  day  school  it  seems  to  me  very  diflScult 
to  exert  a  moral  influence.  It  is  the  sphere  of  the 
teachers  who  are  directly  in  touch  with  the  pupils  to 
awaken  and  stimulate  the  moral  as  well  as  the  intel- 
lectual life.  The  one  and  the  other  seem  so  closely 
united  that  they  develop  simultaneously  under  healthy 
supervision.  There  can  be  no  question  of  opposition ; 
it  is  not  your  function  to  indicate  shortcomings,  or  to 
assume  responsibilities  that  belong  to  others.  You 
have  your  own  work  to  do ;  do  it  as  perfectly  as  pos- 
sible in  everything  that  concerns  you,  and  since  you 
are  fortunate  enough  to  have  a  few  colleagues  who 
think  as  you  do,  strengthen  yourselves  by  frequent  dis- 
cussions on  important  subjects  whose  very  nature  will 
be  a  guarantee  against  pettiness.  Thus  your  light  will 
shine  before  you,  and  this  little  nucleus  of  devoted 
and  faithful  souls  will  work  for  the  greater  good  of 
all.  Do  not  take  my  scolding  seriously,  my  dear,  for  it 
is  a  very  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  be  in  touch  with 
your  life  as  much  as  possible.  So  do  not  fear  to  intrust 
me  even  with  what  you  call  your  "discouragements." 
They  are  not  such  in  reality,  for  you  have  too  strong 
a  mind  and  too  robust  a  faith  not  to  overcome  all 
weakness        I  uncertainty. 


I  am  lar  from  thinking  you  aristocratic,  my  child, 
for  wishing  to  see  at  the  Ecole  de  Sevres  only  dis- 
tinguished minds  and  noble  characters.  I  am  just  as 
aristocratic  as  you,  and  I  approve  of  your  not  sending 
to  us  all  the  girls  who  would  like  to  come.     But  if. 


282    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

among  the  mediocre,  you  find  some  with  good  sense, 
simplicity,  sympathy,  and  what  I  call  a  good  mind,  I 
believe  that  they  can  gain  a  great  deal  at  Sevres,  and 
that  they  will  render  good  service  to  secondary  educa- 
tion, without  suffering  too  much  from  their  home  sur- 
roundings, however  humble  these  may  be.  The  older 
I  grow,  the  more  convinced  I  am  that  good  sense  and 
kindness  are  the  essential  characteristics  for  success  and 
happiness  in  life  In  the  school  here  I  dread  coquetry 
and  frivolity  and  vanity,  quite  as  much  as,  if  not  more 
than,  vulgarity,  for  the  latter  is  often  but  the  outer 
husk  which  disappears  with  culture.  Send  us,  there- 
fore, dear  child,  for  want  of  distinguished  intellects, 
good  minds  that  are  simple,  upright,  and  just.  I 
count  upon  your  intuition  to  supply  all  that  I  cannot 
very  well  say. 

May  31,  1886 

Do  not  judge  too  severely  the  conservatism  of  those 
who  are  responsible  for  the  direction  of  the  lyc6es, 
exaggerated  as  it  sometimes  is.  I  believe  that  this 
conservatism  is  an  effort  to  reassure  timid  minds,  to 
win  over  the  prejudiced,  and  so  to  make  the  greatest 
possible  number  of  children  profit  by  instruction  which 
after  all  contributes  to  the  progress  of  our  beloved 
country.  I  am  sorry  that  you  do  not  teach  ethics,  but 
you  do  teach  it  none  the  less  to  all  your  pupils  by  pre- 
cept and  example. 

October,  1887 

Would  that  the  broad  spirit  of  the  school,  where  all 
religions  are  respected  and  given  the  greatest  liberty. 


MADAME  JULES  FAVRE  283 

should  become  more  and  more  the  spirit  of  France! 
I  agree  with  you  that  the  lycees  should  contribute  to 
this  end.  Our  lycees  gather  together,  without  re- 
ligious or  social  distinction,  a  great  number  of  girls 
who  in  after  life  can  never  forget  this  delightful  intel- 
lectual companionship.  I  see  in  these  lycees  a  wonder- 
ful opportunity  for  spreading  abroad  the  spirit  of 
liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity  throughout  our  coun- 
try. 

You  are  quite  right  in  setting  kindness  above  all 
other  characteristics.  I  will  even  say  that  true  kind- 
ness fosters  clearness  of  vision  in  the  soul  and  correct 
judgment  in  the  mind,  so  that  a  person  cannot  be 
genuinely  kind  without  being  genuinely  intelligent. 

AprU,  1888 

Avoid  flattering  your  pupils  too  much.  By  this  I 
mean  giving  too  much  praise  to  those  who  do  well  and 
who  are  only  too  likely  to  believe  themselves  prodigies 
in  the  little  circle  where  they  live.  Do  not  encourage 
unduly  the  love  of  independence.  Strive  to  develop 
in  them  a  firm,  upright  conscience  which  will  be  their 
guide  under  all  circumstances,  but  check  the  boasting 
by  which  girls  too  often  try  to  affirm  their  independ- 
ence. As  for  you  yourself,  learn  better  how  to  make 
minor  concessions  in  order  to  gain  more  authority  in 
important  matters. 

I  agree  with  you  that  it  is  necessary  to  show  a  great 
deal  of  confidence  in  pupils  and  that  that  is  one  of  the 
principal  methods  of  awakening  and  developing  self- 


284    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

respect.  Those  who  do  not  respond  to  this  confidence 
would  not  profit  any  more  under  another  system  of 
education.  I  never  have  a  good  opinion  of  people 
who  laugh  and  shrug  their  shoulders  at  those  who  be- 
lieve in  human  nature.  Perhaps  such  skepticism  arises 
because  they  understand  human  nature  only  through 
themselves. 

October,  1887 

That  question  always  amuses  me:  "What  can  I 
teach  him  ?  He  does  not  Hke  me."  Perhaps  it  might 
be  said  :  *'I  do  not  like  him."  The  two  conditions  are 
inseparable.  .  .  .  The  longer  one  lives  in  the  teach- 
ing profession,  the  more  reasons  one  has  for  being 
humble  and  indulgent. 

Love  of  duty  is  also  a  religion,  and  when  I  encounter 
it  I  esteem  it  as  much  as  any  creed.  Sincere  convic- 
tion, wherever  it  exists,  should  always  influence  moral- 
ity.   

Do  you  know  that  I  should  never  have  dared  give  a 
pupil  a  book  and  forbid  her  to  read  certain  pages  ?  It 
is  exposing  her  to  too  great  temptation.  I  do  not  think 
it  wise  to  designate  in  this  way  pages  which  can  only 
excite  morbid  curiosity. 

February,  1888  

Your  directress  had  every  right  to  criticize.  Grant- 
ing even  that  she  did  so  in  an  offensive  manner,  you 
were  wrong  to  resent  her  criticism.  The  discipline 
which  annoys  you  is  practically  the  same  in  all  es- 
tablishments of  public  instruction,  and  is  very  insig- 


MADAME  JULES  FAVKE  285 

nificant  when  one  thinks  of  the  great  idea  for  which 
you  are  working  and  which  should  lift  you  above  all 
petty,  personal  questions.  Try  to  bear  your  troubles 
as  philosophically  as  possible.  You  are  probably 
thinking  that  at  a  distance  it  is  easy  for  me  to  give  you 
this  advice.  In  fact,  that  is  just  what  I  am  thinking, 
for  I  remember  how  painful  such  ordeals  are  and  how 
they  exhaust  the  courage,  which  must  be  replenished 
through  meditation  and  action.  The  teacher  must 
frequently  take  refuge  in  the  serene  kingdom  of  ideas. 
Here  one  finds  the  peace  that  was  lost  and  pure  satis- 
faction without  end.  Life  has  real  grandeur  in  a  pro- 
fession such  as  yours.  Woe  to  the  educator  who  does 
not  recognize  it !    Woe  also  to  her  pupils ! 

ON  MORAL  TEACHING 

At  the  time  when  moral  instruction  begins  for  the 
child,  he  has  already  had  some  experience  in  moral 
life,  and  the  teaching  he  receives  is  eflScacious  only  if 
it  trains  him  to  apply  it  to  his  own  life,  to  watch  him- 
self, and  to  practice  the  precepts  he  has  retained. 
Here,  more  than  anywhere  else,  one  should  introduce 
illustrations  only  after  having  made  clear  the  cor- 
responding ideas.  It  might  be  still  better  to  deduce 
the  latter  from  self-observation  and  the  observation  of 
others,  revealing  the  child  to  himself  by  well-directed 
questions.  However,  in  order  to  spare  the  sensitive 
soul  that  seeks  to  escape  too  direct  supervision,  we 
must  use  with  discretion  the  illustrations  that  are 
furnished  by  the  acts  of  the  child  himself  or  of  his 
comrades,  and  must  base  the  moral  lesson  on  the  life 


286    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

of  some  historical  character,  or  of  a  hero  or  heroine  of 
drama  or  story.  After  the  pupils  have  expressed  their 
opinions  under  the  guidance  of  the  teacher,  they 
themselves  can  apply  the  lesson  to  particular  instances 
in  their  own  lives.  Doubtless  their  opinions  should 
not  be  taken  as  an  exact  indication  of  the  development 
of  their  moral  sense,  which  at  every  age  is  likely  to  be 
more  critical  and  more  exacting  for  others  than  for  self, 
but  it  does  not  seem  to  me  difficult  to  distinguish  among 
the  opinions  expressed  those  which  are  the  results  of 
reflection  and  experience.  The  teacher  should  sum  up 
the  lesson  in  words  that  are  so  concise,  clear,  simple, 
and  sincere,  that  they  will  sink  into  the  soul  with  the 
authority  of  a  living  sermon. 

It  is  important  first  of  all  to  understand  that  morality 
is  not  to  be  taught  like  other  subjects ;  it  is  rather  an 
inspiration  given  at  the  beginning  of  life.  I  should 
like  to  say  that  thanks  to  example  and  to  the  more  or 
less  direct  influence  of  environment,  it  is  an  atmos- 
phere; it  seems  to  be  the  result  of  higher  instinct,  of 
intimate  intuition,  clearer  and  surer  than  all  reason- 
ing. This  is  what  led  Pascal  to  say  that  "men  are 
not  taught  to  be  honest  men."  As  reason  gradually 
awakens  and  develops,  morality  may  still  be  culti- 
vated, but  the  moral  sense  is  developed  through  the 
souFs  recognition  of  itself  and  of  its  power  of  choice, 
rather  than  through  suggestions  imposed  from  with- 
out. Thus  one  understands  why  "true  morality  laughs 
at  morality." 


MADAME  JULES  FAVRE  287 

EXTRACT  FROM  ADDRESS  AT  THE  FIRST  GEN-^ 
ERAL  REUNION  OF  THE  GRADUATES  OF 
SEVRES,  OCTOBER  3,   1885 

The  more  united  we  are,  the  stronger  we  shall  be  to 
fight  against  the  prejudice  that  still  surrounds  this 
institution.  In  this  noble  struggle  our  weapons,  as 
you  know,  should  be  patience,  gentleness,  simplicity, 
straightforwardness,  and  self-sacrifice.  Gifts  of  intel- 
ligence are  invaluable,  but  it  is  chiefly  through  your 
moral  qualities  that  you  will  contribute  to  the  triumph 
of  the  great  cause  which  is  in  your  keeping.  Instruc- 
tion skillfully  imparted  by  an  enlightened  mind  has 
power  to  ennoble  and  strengthen  the  intelligence,  but 
the  example  of  willing  submission  to  duty,  however 
humble  it  may  be,  is  still  more  powerful  to  win  hearts 
and  to  make  them  love  duty. 


B.  JACOB 

B.  Jacob  (1859-1909),  professor  at  the  normal  schools  of  Sevres 
and  Fontenay-aux-Roses.  His  poor  health  as  well  as  the  extreme 
conscientiousness  with  which  he  devoted  himself  to  his  teaching 
prevented  him  from  writing  much.  Nevertheless,  he  exerted  a  po- 
tent influence  through  his  lectures  and  letters,  a  few  of  which  have 
been  collected.  Faith  in  pure  morality,  independent  of  all  re- 
ligion, was  one  of  his  guiding  principles,  furnishing  the  inspiration 
of  his  Pout  VScole  laiquc.  The  complete  lecture,  from  which  the 
following  passages  have  been  taken,  was  published  in  a  book  en- 
titled Devoirs. 

RESIGNATION 

Op  all  the  virtues  which  the  ancient  moralists,  es- 
pecially those  of  the  last  period,  have  forcefully  recom- 
mended, resignation  is  among  the  most  important. 
For  them  it  sums  up  all  individual  morahty.  Resig- 
nation is  wisdom,  for  the  man  who  understands  nature 
can  only  bow  before  the  clear  necessity  of  the  laws 
which  govern  her.  Resignation  is  temperance,  for 
man  submits  to  the  inevitable  conditions  of  natural 
and  human  existence  only  by  restraining  his  appetites 
and  feelings.  Resignation  is  courage,  for  it  needs  a 
vigorous  effort  of  the  will  to  impose  silence  upon  the 
emotions  of  anger  and  sadness  of  which  reason  dis- 
approves. Epictetus  gathers  around  resignation  the 
essential  doctrines  of  his  ethics  when  he  sums  them  up 
in  the  formula,  "Abstain  and  endure,"  and  it  is  resigna- 
tion which  inspired  the  naturalistic  piety  of  Marcus 
Aurelius.  "O  world,"  cries  the  philosopher,  "all 
that  pleases  thee,  pleases  me ;  nothing  is  either  back- 
ward or  premature  for  hich  is  in  season  for  thee ! 
Everything  that  thy  status  bring  is  fruit,  O  nature ! " 
Today  resignation  is  less  popular  among  the  moral- 


B.  JACOB  289 

ists,  and  the  counsel  they  most  willingly  recommend 
to  me  is  to  fight  against  the  order  of  things  as  they  are, 
to  react  and  struggle  against  the  evils  of  every  sort 
that  the  organization  of  nature  and  of  society  im- 
poses on  the  species  and  on  the  individual.  It  is  no 
longer  proper  for  us  to  submit  to  the  order  of  the  uni- 
verse ;  we  have  rather  the  ambition  to  make  the  world 
subordinate  to  our  will.  Destiny,  formerly  respected 
as  an  all-powerful  divinity,  has  ceased  to  appear  su- 
preme, and  according  to  the  expression  of  Renan,  the 
modern  man  has  become  "bold  before  God."  Let 
us  indicate  some  of  the  causes  which  have  determined 
this  change  in  attitude.  When  we  have  understood 
why  the  moderns  limit  the  role  of  resignation,  it  will 
be  easier  for  us  to  fix  the  place  and  the  use  that  this 
virtue,  brought  back  within  its  legitimate  sphere, 
should  occupy  in  a  rational  ethics. 

The  first  weapon  man  uses  against  resignation  is 
science.  "To  know  is  to  do,"  and  the  laws  discovered 
by  scientists  permit  us  to  modify  to  our  advantage 
the  natural  phenomena  whose  conditions  fall  within 
our  grasp.  When  we  know  that  by  the  use  of  exact 
and  certain  laws  evil  may  be  lessened  or  destroyed, 
sufifering  attenuated  or  suppressed,  would  it  not  be 
absurd  and  even  immoral  to  resign  oneself  to  it? 
Whatever  may  be  our  respect  for  stoicism,  we  can  only 
agree  with  Macaulay  when,  in  a  celebrated  paragraph, 
he  sets  over  against  the  passive  philosophy  of  the 
Stoics  the  enterprising  and  successful  activity  of  our 
scientists : 

A  disciple  of  Epictetus  and  a  disc  .pie  of  Bacon  come  to  a  village 
where  the  smallpox  has  just  begun  to  rage  and  find  houses  shut  up. 


290    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

intercourse  suspended,  the  sick  abandoned,  mothers  weeping  in 
terror  over  their  children.  The  Stoic  assures  the  dismayed  popu- 
lation that  there  is  nothing  bad  in  the  smallpox  and  that  to  a  vdse 
man  disease,  deformity,  death,  the  loss  of  friends  are  not  evils. 
The  Baconian  takes  out  a  lancet  and  begins  to  vaccinate.  They 
find  a  body  of  miners  in  great  dismay.  An  explosion  of  noisome 
vapors  has  just  killed  many  of  those  who  were  at  work ;  and  the 
sur\'ivors  are  afraid  to  venture  into  the  ca,vern.  The  Stoic  assures 
them  that  such  an  accident  is  nothing  but  a  mere  aTroTrporjyixevov. 
The  Baconian,  who  has  no  such  fine  word  at  his  command,  contents 
himself  with  devising  a  safety  lamp.  They  find  a  shipwrecked 
merchant  wringing  his  hands  on  the  shore.  His  vessel  with  an 
inestimable  cargo  has  just  gone  down,  and  he  is  reduced  in  a  moment 
from  opulence  to  beggary.  The  Stoic  exhorts  him  not  to  seek 
happiness  in  things  which  lie  without  himself  and  repeats  the  whole 
chapter  of  Epictetus  "To  those  who  fear  poverty."  The  Baconian 
constructs  a  diving-bell,  goes  down  in  it,  and  returns  with  the  most 
precious  effects  from  the  wreck. 

It  is  certain  that  every  time  science,  in  circum- 
stances of  this  nature,  advises  the  struggle  against 
destiny  and  arms  us  for  this  struggle,  no  modern  Stoic 
would  refuse  to  follow  science  in  order  to  practice 
useless  resignation,  justified  eighteen  centuries  ago 
only  because  of  ignorance. 

[On  the  other  hand,  the  political  and  social  system 
of  the  modern  democracy,  authorizing  in  all  men  any 
and  all  ambitions,  no  longer  asks  any  class  or  indi- 
vidual to  give  up  in  advance  the  hope  of  attaining  to 
the  position  of  the  most  fortunate.  Nevertheless, 
even  today  moral  education  should  lay  considerable 
stress  upon  resignation.] 

In  the  first  place  there  are  eternal  laws  of  life  to 
which  we  shall  always  have  to  resign  ourselves.  Phys- 
ically man  is  an  exceedingly  complex  organism  whose 


B.  JACOB  291 

health  is  in  a  very  unstable  equilibrium,  continually 
menaced  by  slight  or  serious  changes,  which  make 
themselves  known  to  the  consciousness  in  the  form  of 
discomfort  and  pain.  And  one  cannot  foresee  the  day 
when  one  will  escape  the  necessity  of  suffering,  for 
while  civilization  multiplies  the  remedies  against  our 
ills,  it  also  refines  the  nervous  system  and  makes  it 
exquisitely  sensitive  to  disturbances  that  are  more 
and  more  insignificant.  To  suffer  with  dignity,  man 
will  therefore  always  need  the  virtue  of  resignation, 
and  he  will ^X) we  his  resignation  in  the  future  to  the 
same  motives  which  have  been  responsible  for  it  in 
the  past. 

Ordinarily,  when  it  is  a  question  of  accepting  tem- 
porary suffering,  resignation  does  not  require  a  great 
effort ;  it  becomes  much  more  diflScult  when  we  have 
to  accustom  ourselves  to  permanent  privations  and 
consent  to  final  renunciation.  It  is  hard  to  reconcile 
ourselves  to  infirmities  which  forever  cripple  our 
activity  and  our  material  well-being.  Nevertheless, 
the  sage  resigns  himself;  indeed,  he  almost  consoles 
himself  for  this  infirmity  by  a  life  of  the  soul  that  is 
more  and  more  active  and  profound  as  his  outward 
life  becomes  impoverished  and  contracts.  During 
the  sad  years  that  Marcus  Aurelius  spent  on  the  banks 
of  the  Danube,  occupied  in  beating  back  the  barbarian 
invasions,  he  was  diverted  from  the  fatigues  and  cares 
of  his  double  occupation  as  emperor  and  general 
by  a  single  joy,  that  of  reading  the  writers  whose 
maxims  confirmed  his  heroism.  After  a  time  his  sight 
failed  and  the  satisfaction  of  reading  was  denied  him ; 


292    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

but  even  this  supreme  trial  did  not  crush  him.  "If 
thou  art  no  longer  permitted  to  read,"  he  writes, 
"thou  canst  always  spurn  what  would  make  thee 
ashamed ;  thou  canst  always  condemn  sensual  pleas- 
ures ;  thou  canst  always  abstain  from  anger  toward 
the  foolish  and  ungrateful ;  more  than  that,  thou 
canst  always  do  them  good."  Thus  courageous  in- 
valids think  and  act;  when  their  life  strikes  against 
an  insurmountable  obstacle  in  one  direction,  they 
develop  it  in  another,  either  moral,  scientific,  or 
aesthetic.  Beethoven,  though  deaf,  composed  ad- 
mirable symphonies  in  which  there  break  out  at  times 
the  accents  of  intense  joy. 

And  it  is  not  only  to  great  men  that  it  is  given  thus 
to  console  themselves.  The  most  modest  can  in  large 
measure  overcome  the  effects  of  a  natural  or  acquired 
infirmity  by  exalting  the  faculties  which  nature  leaves 
them  and  which  she  often  develops  more  intensely 
because  of  arrested  development  elsewhere.  The  very 
being  that  nature  has  abused  most  will  learn  to 
feel  that  his  life  is  not  useless  if,  through  the  patience 
and  the  serenity  that  ennoble  it,  it  becomes  a  lesson 
for  others,  sometimes  even  for  the  strongest.  Very 
often  a  man  physically  weak  can  render  service  to  his 
fellows,  not  only  indirectly  through  example  of  his 
resignation,  but  even  directly  through  his  acts.  When 
he  economizes  his  forces  and  concentrates  them  en- 
tirely upon  a  single  object,  it  often  happens  that  he 
produces  works  or  accomplishes  tasks  which  equal 
those  of  the  most  gifted.  You  have  seen  invalid 
teachers,  whose  physical  life  was  a  perpetual  suffering, 
conduct  their  lessons  with  zeal  and  joy  because  they 


B.  JACOB  29S 

had  reserved  all  their  energy  for  this  effort.  They 
resigned  themselves  to  an  existence  that  was  incom- 
plete and  painful,  confident  that  in  spite  of  nature  it 
would  bear  fruit. 

[M.  Jacob  next  examines  the  necessity  of  resignation 
to  death  —  the  resignation  of  man  to  his  own  death, 
and  resignation  to  the  death  of  those  he  loves.] 

And  that  is  why  human  wisdom  counsels  us  in  the 
presence  of  the  death  of  loved  ones  to  resist,  not  suffer- 
ing, but  despair.  The  man  of  heart  and  of  reason 
who  has  been  stricken  in  a  great  affection  does  not  try 
to  escape  his  sorrow,  for  he  knows  it  to  be  at  once 
natural  and  reasonable,  but  he  tries  to  soften  and 
transform  it  into  a  determination  to  do  the  good  that 
remains  for  him  to  do,  which  he  will  often  do  without 
wavering  in  order  to  remain  faithful  to  the  one  whom 
he  mourns.  The  usual  compensation  for  his  effort 
is  the  gradual  assuagement  of  his  sorrow  as  it  becomes 
more  unselfish.  The  memory  of  the  dead,  instead  of 
being  a  pain  which  devitalizes  and  paralyzes,  becomes 
a  sort  of  serious  religion  which  sustains  the  courage 
and  furnishes  reasons  for  continuing  to  live.  Only 
from  a  very  lofty  morality  can  the  man  whose  heart 
has  been  torn  by  his  experiences  derive  the  strength 
to  bear  up  under  his  wounds. 

[Resignation  is  also  logically  necessary  when,  either 
from  force  of  circumstances  or  for  lack  of  exceptional 
talent,  one  is  unable  to  reach  certain  desired  attain- 
ments, intellectual,  scientific,  aesthetic,  Or  social.] 

It  is  more  painful  to  relinquish  certain  desires  of  the 
heart  than  to  relinquish  the  desires  of  the  intelligence 


294    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

or  even  of  the  will.     Nevertheless,  the  heart  also  has 
a  motive  in  renunciation  when  duty  commands.  .  .  . 

It  is  thus  evident  that  resignation  should  be  culti- 
vated in  order  that  the  individual  may  accept  the 
necessary  e\n[ls  and  inevitable  suffering  that  the  general 
laws  of  existence  and  the  particular  conditions  of  his 
life  force  upon  him.  This  is  equivalent  to  saying  that 
wisdom  dictates  the  rights  of  man  where  happiness 
is  concerned.  The  good  things  of  life,  turned  to  ac- 
count by  the  man  of  energy  and  reason,  suffice  to  make 
life  worth  living;  but  they  bring  only  temporary 
happiness  even  to  the  most  gifted  and  most  favored 
of  fortune,  a  happiness  which  is  incomplete  and  un- 
certain. To  persuade  oneself  that  the  happiness 
accessible  to  man  is  limited,  infinitely  uncertain,  this 
is  the  first  condition  of  happiness.  Since  this  mental 
attitude  is  really  resignation  in  essence,  and  so  to 
speak  in  principle,  we  find  in  it  a  new  argument  against 
the  moderns  who  scorn  the  lessons  of  ancient  wisdom, 
the  eternal  necessity  of  resignation. 


GUSTAVE  LANSON 

Gustave  Lanson  (1857-  ),  successively  agrege,  tutor  of 
Nicholas  II,  professor  at  the  Sorbonne,  and  one  of  the  first  if  not 
the  first  professor  of  French  literature  of  our  day.  In  Trois  mois 
d'enseignement  aux  Etats-Unis  he  has  published  his  lectures  given 
in  the  principal  American  universities.  His  Histoire  de  la  littira- 
ture  frangaise  is  a  classic. 

THE   MODERN  SUBJECTS  IN  SECONDARY 
EDUCATION  1 

This,  then,  is  the  triple  task  assigned  to  us :  to  give 
intellectual,^^  moral,  and  civic  education.  We  have 
not  the  right  to  affect  an  ancient  and  predemocratic 
tradition  of  literary  instruction,  or  to  quote  a  personal 
opinion  or  inclination ;  we  have  not  the  right  to  reject 
this  duty  and  say:  "We  shall  teach  literature  in 
literary  fashion,  that  is  to  say  aesthetically.  We  shall 
form  the  taste,  excite  the  imagination,  refine  the  sensi- 
bility. We  shall  make  or  try  to  make  artists.  We 
shall  bungle  a  thousand,  but  we  shall  make  one  good 
one,  and  we  shall  have  done  our  duty.  The  rest  is 
none  of  our  business." 

We  have  not  the  right  to  say  that.  If  we  should 
say  it,  or  if  people  should  believe  we  thought  it,  so 
much  the  worse  for  the  teaching  of  literature,  which 
would  have  a  bad  quarter  of  an  hour  to  look  forward  to. 

But  formerly,  you  will  say,  the  teacher  of  the  hu- 
manities or  rhetoric  was  the  principal  teacher,  the 
sole  teacher,  and  he  devoted  his  entire  attention  to 
aesthetic  culture  and  the  formation  of  taste.  Of  course 
he  did.     The  dualism  in  the  education  of  that  time 

*  Extracts  from  an  address  published  in  USducation  de  la  dimocratie, 
1903. 

295 


296    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

relieved  him  of  every  other  responsibility.  Religion 
dictated  the  character  and  morals,  religion  furnished 
the  maxims  and  guiding  principles  of  life,  reUgion 
gave  civic  education,  subject  to  the  prince  according 
to  the  will  of  God  and  the  teaching  of  the  Apostles. 
When  religion  failed,  it  was  family  or  class  prejudices 
which  became  guiding  principles  for  the  child.  In  a 
word,  his  conscience  was  formed  aside  from  his  studies. 
The  teacher  of  belles-lettres  had  only  to  polish  the 
mind,  to  mold  it  according  to  an  agreeable  pattern, 
to  give  it  a  refined  taste  for  literature,  a  desire  to  shine 
in  society,  and  a  supple  rhetoric  to  cite  with  bril- 
liancy and  charm  the  behefs  received  from  another 
quarter.  .  .  . 

This  literary  work  of  a  bygone  day,  the  teaching 
understood  by  those  who  intone  the  eloquent  hymn  of 
the  old  humanities,  has  become  impossible  for  two 
reasons : 

I.  Our  pupils  are  no  longer  recruited  as  they  were 
formerly.  In  the  old  days  the  children  of  the  upper 
classes  came  to  the  college  already  formed  by  their 
environment.  When  they  returned  to  it  they  had 
the  influence  of  a  literary  culture  analogous  to  that 
of  the  college,  which  kept  them  in  touch  with  the  best 
in  life.  Children  of  humbler  station  are  also  sent  to 
us,  coming  from  families  where  no  one  ever  reads  any- 
thing but  the  daily  paper,  where  no  one  ever  will  read 
anything  but  the  daily  paper.  These  children  are  not 
amenable  to  literary  education ;  it  slips  from  the  surface 
of  their  minds  or  passes  over  their  heads. 

In  olden  times  the  sons  of  peasants  like  Marmontel 
who  came  to  college  were,  so  to  speak,  sealed  up  there. 


GUSTAVE  LANSON  297 

They  were  withdrawn  from  contact  with  their  families, 
but  more  than  that  they  were  imbued  with  the  idea 
that  by  educating  themselves  they  were  rising  above 
their  class,  and  climbing  the  ladder  to  honor  and  for- 
tune. Today  this  is  no  longer  the  case.  We  offer 
them  too  many  other  ways  to  forge  to  the  front.  We 
no  longer  keep  them  for  years  immersed  in  the  same 
bath  of  literature.  They  no  longer  plunge  into  it 
with  the  same  faith. 

II.  We  no  longer  have  a  dogmatic  theory  of  the 
principles  pf  taste.  That  is  the  real  reason  for  the 
lack  of  success  in  purely  literary  teaching.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  and  up  to  sixty  years  ago  there 
was  a  doctrine  of  good  taste  which  could  be  taught 
to  children.  They  were  taught  the  rules  of  eloquence, 
of  poetry,  of  all  styles  of  composition. 

Everything  was  defined  and  classified.  Texts  of 
great  writers  were  used  to  illustrate  how  the  rules 
were  applied.  Their  taste  was  refined  still  more  by 
giving  them  delicate  problems  for  solution.  They 
were  taught  to  correct  an  apparent  violation  of  the 
rule,  to  detect  an  infraction  of  the  rule  in  grandiloquent 
effects,  in  a  word  to  make  new  and  personal  applica- 
tions of  universal  principles.  The  mediocre  were  con- 
tent to  learn  the  letter  of  the  law  and  the  ordinary 
applications;  the  best  pupils  found  therein  oppor- 
tunity for  an  ingenious  and  continuous  exercise  of 
invention.  To  form  the  taste  meant  something;  it 
meant  a  practical  program  of  education,  suited  to  the 
different  ages  of  the  schoolboy. 

Formerly  taste  was  first  taught,  then  sought,  in  the 
masterpieces  of  literature;     today  taste  is  acquired 


298    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

through  reading  and  studying  Hterature.  From  being 
a  'priori  and  dogmatic,  taste  has  become  experimental 
and  relative.  That  is  to  say,  the  formation  of  taste 
is  the  crowning  of  the  whole  education,  the  last  ac- 
quisition of  the  adolescent. 

Since  we  cannot  place  the  doctrine  of  taste  at  the 
center  of  literary  teaching,  we  must  see  that  the  child 
comes  into  contact  with  the  masterpieces  of  literature 
during  a  long  period  of  time ;  we  must  let  him  record 
and  accumulate  sensations  without  our  assistance 
and  without  demanding  that  he  reason  about  them. 
While  waiting  for  the  epoch  in  his  life  when,  without 
risk  of  teaching  him  mere  words,  we  can  invite  him  to 
reflect  on  these  accumulated  sensations,  when  because 
he  has  felt  much  we  can  ask  him  to  express  a  little 
of  what  he  feels,  we  must  give  another  precise  and 
tangible  aim  to  this  study  of  literary  masterpieces 
through  daily  association  with  these  masterpieces. 
This  refines  his  taste  imperceptibly,  without  the  aid 
of  formula  or  dissertation. 

What  can  this  tangible,  definite  aim  be  if  not  that 
which  is  fundamental  for  democracy,  the  formation 
of  the  sense  of  truth,  of  the  sense  of  justice  and  sol- 
idarity, and  of  the  civic  spirit  ? 

But  how  can  all  this  be  found  in  literature?  Is  it 
not  chimerical  to  try  to  draw  from  works  of  art,  which 
were  created  in  order  to  give  a  certain  delicate  pleasure, 
lessons  which  they  do  not  contain?  Manifestly  we 
must  give  a  certain  definition  of  literature;  we  must 
see  in  art,  as  did  Tolstoi,  a  language,  and  in  literature 
something  else  besides  the  frivolous  play  of  fantasy 
and  form.     We  must  see  men  who  tell  what  they  have 


GUSTAVE  LANSON  299 

demanded  of  life,  and  the  dreams  they  have  dreamed  — 
men  who  translate  in  their  own  fashion  into  beauty 
and  poetry  what  some  others  have  translated  into  laws, 
others  into  action,  battles,  industrial  inventions,  and 
commercial  efiFort,  men  who  have  defined  the  eternal 
conflict  between  man  and  nature,  the  bitter  com- 
petition among  their  fellows,  the  slow  evolution  and 
violent  crises  experienced  by  moral  beliefs  and  social 
organisms.  A  literary  masterpiece  is  an  aspect  of  hu- 
manity, a  moment  in  civilization.  The  least  serious 
is  fraught  ^th  meaning  if  one  so  considers  it.  A 
sonnet  of  Voltaire  sums  up  and  presents  the  entire 
civilization  of  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury —  an  absolute  monarchy,  a  brilliant  society,  the 
intellectual  domination  of  Italy  and  Spain,  and  the 
recent  brutality  chained  down  by  a  minute  ceremonial. 
We  have  the  right  to  see  in  literature  a  reflection  of 
life  itself  and  to  seek  within  it  the  means  of  preparing 
men  to  meet  life. 

But  how  is  it  to  be  taught  so  as  to  attain  this  end  ? 
In  order  to  be  more  specific,  I  shall  pass  in  review  the 
different  exercises  of  a  French  class. 

Some  of  these  certainly  seem  to  have  no  connection 
with  our  definition  of  education.  What  can  gram- 
matical analysis,  for  instance,  do  for  the  service  of  the 
democracy?  More  than  one  thinks,  if  hidden  behind 
the  school  exercise  one  always  recognizes  a  living, 
moving  spirit  in  the  ebb  and  flow  of  its  evolutionary 
development.  Bossuet  said  in  substance  to  the 
Dauphin:  "It  is  not  the  barbarism  or  the  solecism 
in  your  theme  which  is  bad;  it  is  the  intellectual 
sluggishness,    the    carelessness,    the    lack    of    mental 


300    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

curiosity  that  the  blunder  displays."  We  must  doubt- 
less try  to  correct  the  mistake  in  the  exercise,  but  it 
is  especially  necessary  to  rectify  the  defect  in  the  mind. 
Sometimes  we  professors,  even  the  best  and  most 
conscientious  among  us,  are  a  little  fanatical.  We 
are  more  interested  in  the  theme,  in  the  dissertation, 
formerly  in  the  Latin  verses,  than  in  our  pupils.  At 
times  we  forget  that  our  aim  should  not  be  to  obtain 
an  ideal  theme,  a  model  speech,  or  a  good  exercise, 
but  a  good  mind.  We  must  rid  ourselves  of  the  super- 
stitious cult  of  the  school  exercise  and  look  beyond  the 
correct  or  incorrect  copy  at  the  little  moral  being  who 
has  revealed  himself  in  it,  though  in  ever  so  slight 
a  degree. 

WTiat  is  more  important,  our  class  exercises  will 
themselves  have  educational  value  if  they  are  subordi- 
nated to  the  idea  of  truth. 

Even  at  a  tender  age  and  during  the  earliest  lessons 
the  teacher  can  develop  this  sense  of  truth  in  the  child 
if  he  takes  care  not  to  teach  him  words,  not  to  allow 
him  to  store  up  words  or  to  repeat  them  mechanically. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  in  order  to  acquire  the  nec- 
essary knowledge  of  grammar  children  leam  lists  of 
words  which  are  outside  the  vocabulary  of  childhood, 
the  things  themselves  being  outside  the  experience  of 
childhood  as  well.  The  other  day  I  heard  a  little  fellow 
of  seven  bustling  about  trying  to  fix  in  his  mind  "pre- 
fix," "abstract,"  "concrete,"  with  their  corresponding 
feminine  forms  —  one  strange  word  and  two  incompre- 
hensible words.  We  shall  have  difficulty  in  developing 
good  minds  if  we  warp  them  thus  at  the  outset. 

But  to  come  back  to  the  higher  grades,  in  which  I 


GUSTAVE  LANSON  801 

have  made  many  extensive  experiments.  Here  there 
are  two  fundamental  exercises :  French  composition, 
and  interpretation  of  selected  passages. 

I  admit  that  I  am  scarcely  satisfied  with  French 
composition  as  it  is  treated  in  the  majority  of  our 
classes.  In  the  form  of  speeches  or  dissertations  liter- 
ary history  and  literary  criticism  dominate  throughout 
our  composition  work.  In  literary  history  the  pupil 
speaks  of  what  he  does  not  know,  without  having  read 
the  text,  merely  relying  on  the  strength  of  a  manual. 
In  literary  criticism  he  speaks  of  what  he  has  not  per- 
sonally acquired,  of  what  he  does  not  understand, 
again  depending  upon  authority.  Empty  verbalism, 
imitation,  and  plagiarism,  insincerity  and  disregard 
for  the  exact  meaning,  or  on  the  contrary  audacious 
affirming  without  knowing  —  these  are  the  too  fre- 
quent results  of  composition  work  as  we  practice  it 
today.  You  may  say  that  these  criticisms  do  not 
apply  to  the  good  pupil.  Not  always,  I  admit,  but 
nevertheless  more  frequently  than  they  should.  And 
then  there  are  those  that  are  not  so  able,  the  mediocre, 
the  poor  pupils,  who  should  no  longer  be  sacrificed 
as  necessary  waste  in  the  process  of  obtaining  a  superior 
product.  So  far  as  they  are  concerned,  and  they 
form  a  majority,  our  work  in  French  composition  is 
beyond  them. 

The  fundamental  difficulty  is  that  composition 
demands  creative  ability ;  it  is  a  work  of  art.  Up  to 
the  present  time  we  have  striven  only  "to  raise  up 
men  of  genius"  or  talent,  to  encourage  "artistic  voca- 
tions." We  have  sacrificed  the  mass  to  the  individuals 
who  flattered  us  and  were  a  credit  to  us.    In  order 


302    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

to  develop  a  Paradol,  an  About,  a  Lemaitre,  we  have 
bungled,  deformed,  or  repelled  hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  the  mediocre  whom  we  might  have  improved.  Our 
French  composition  and  our  whole  literary  teaching 
aimed  only  to  select  the  artist  from  the  crowd,  to 
awaken,  refine,  and  equip  him,  still  imaware  of  his 
presence  in  the  child.  We  sought  to  discover  the  orator, 
the  novehst,  or  in  lieu  of  these  the  journalist,  whom 
we  trained  merely  to  be  an  inferior  orator,  novelist,  or 
poet.     The  democracy  requires  something  more. 

For  the  great  mass  of  our  pupils,  French  com- 
position should  be  something  very  simple,  but  at  the 
same  time  intellectually  and  morally  sound.  To 
speak  only  of  the  things  one  knows  (and  I  do  not 
define  knowledge  as  mere  contact  with  a  textbook) ; 
to  discuss  only  the  questions  with  which  one  is  familiar 
(literary  aesthetics  is  beyond  a  child  of  fifteen) ;  to 
treat  questions  that  are  simple,  all  the  data  of  which 
may  be  exactly  determined  and  can  be  assembled  by 
direct  personal  observation  of  the  pupil  —  these  are 
to  my  mind  the  important  principles.  This  chosen 
subject  matter  should  be  put  into  shape,  and  clearness 
of  exposition,  precision,  and  appropriateness  of  ex- 
pression are  the  habits  which  should  be  inculcated. 
All  teachers  of  rhetoric  have  long  since  ceased  to  en- 
courage eloquence,  figures  of  speech,  and  the  whole 
rhetorical  paraphernalia.  We  must  now  cease  to  en- 
courage the  tendency  to  produce  brilliant  effects  at 
the  expense  of  simple  truth.  We  must  comprehend 
fully  that  it  is  more  wholesome  for  young  minds  to  be 
trained  to  summarize  than  to  spin  out  a  thought,  to 
simplify  than  to  amplify.     I  imagine  that  in  the  future 


GUSTAVE  LANSON  803 

the  model  of  literary  composition  in  our  secondary 
schools  will  not  be  the  harangues  of  the  Condones,  or 
the  speech  of  the  Academician,  or  the  article  of  Paradol 
or  Lemaltre,  but  the  businesslike  report,  the  exact, 
well-ordered,  luminous  exposition  of  a  selected  ques- 
tion, without  eloquence,  poetry,  or  literary  artifice, 
the  solution  of  which  depends  upon  choice  and  examina- 
tion of  facts.  This  training  will  not  smother  artistic 
development,  but  it  will  give  the  best  minds,  as  well 
as  the  mediocre,  habits  of  thought  which  they  will 
never  regrej^  and  which  society  will  never  need  to  re- 
gret having  imposed  upon  them. 

Reading  and  interpretation  of  texts  are  the  funda- 
mental exercises  of  a  French  class.  What  texts  should 
preferably  be  chosen  ? 

Each  teacher  should  choose  the  works  he  knows 
best,  those  he  cares  most  for,  —  not  those  for  which 
he  has  a  ready-made  preparation,  but  those  which 
seem  to  him  the  richest  and  most  significant.  Whether 
one  takes  Voltaire  or  Bossuet  is  immaterial.  In  fact, 
I  do  not  think  it  would  be  difficult  to  depend  entirely 
upon  the  monarchist.  Catholic  authors  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  to  draw  from  them,  without  any 
misconstruction  or  misinterpretation,  teaching  that  is 
most  modern  and  most  appropriate  for  our  children 
in  a  free-thinking  democracy.  It  is  the  teacher  who 
is  important,  not  the  text. 

Little  history  of  literature  being  possible,  I  should 
reserve  that  for  university  work.  A  pupil  of  the  third 
form  ^  and  often  of  the  first  has  read  almost  nothing. 

'  In  the  boys'  lyc^es,  the  lowest  class  is  the  infant  class  (six  years  of 
age),  followed  by  two  years  in  the  preparatory  division,  then  eighth  form. 


304    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

Manifestly  we  cannot  give  the  history  of  literature, 
the  history  of  the  development  of  the  different  types 
of  writing,  without  speaking  to  the  pupil  and  making 
him  speak  of  many  masterpieces  which  he  has  not  yet 
read  and  of  an  infinite  number  of  less  important  works 
(stages  in  an  evolutionary  process  of  considerable 
historical  importance,  but  whose  aesthetic  value  is 
negligible)  which  he  will  be  justified  in  never  reading. 
A  brief,  easily  learned  chronology,  entirely  purged 
of  critical  formulas  and  aesthetic  judgments,  will 
suffice  to  fix  in  mind  the  outline  within  which  the 
different  works  will  gradually  fall  into  place  as  they 
are  read. 

It  will  certainly  always  be  possible,  and  often  useful, 
for  the  interpretation  of  a  particular  text  to  open 
vistas  in  literary  history,  to  acquaint  the  pupils  with 
the  relations  of  certain  works  to  other  works.  This, 
however,  must  be  done  discreetly  and  prudently,  — 
never  by  means  of  definite  statement,  rather  in  the 
form  of  a  hint  or  of  a  program  of  suggested  reading. 

While  I  deprecate  the  history  of  literature  as  a  mere 
history  of  different  types  of  writing,  I  welcome  the 
historical  study  of  literature  which  encourages  the 
study  of  human  life  as  it  is  recorded  in  literary  forms. 

Our  pupils  will  be  interested  in  even  the  most  serious 
of  our  texts  if  v/e  show  them  the  soul  in  these  texts, 
the  soul  that  wills,  that  suffers,  and  that  struggles. 
Early  in  life  the  child  loves  to  watch  men  in  action; 
he  reflects  on  what  he  sees ;    he  accumulates  his  own 

seventh  form,  and  so  on  up  to  the  first  form  and  finally  the  philosophy- 
mathematics  form.  This  gives  a  twelve-year  course  of  study,  running 
normally  from  the  boy's  sixth  to  his  eighteenth  year. 


GUSTAVE  LANSON  305 

little  experience.  Let  us  enlarge  it;  let  us  give  him 
in  literature  the  spectacle  of  an  infinite  number  of 
lives,  of  the  richest  lives  that  have  existed. 

Finally  our  literary  texts  cover  all  important  moral 
and  social  questions,  each  one  in  the  form  and  aspect 
which  a  certain  epoch,  a  certain  society,  or  a  certain 
individual  has  given  it.  We  must  not  lose  sight  of 
this  fact.  It  would  be  treachery  toward  Pascal  or 
Voltaire  to  find  in  them  mere  beauty  or  refinement 
of  style,  delights  for  the  taste,  and  to  avoid  the  great 
moral  and  social  problems  stated  in  their  peculiarly 
beautiful  and  charming  style.  It  would  be  treachery 
toward  our  pupils,  for  thus  we  should  be  giving  only 
an  incomplete  and  inadequate  education.  The  school- 
boy who  enters  life  tomorrow  to  become  a  man  and  a 
citizen  should  know  the  path  along  which  his  future 
activity  will  be  directed.  At  least  it  is  imperative 
that  he  should  have  studied  the  map,  that  he  should 
know  how  and  in  what  direction  to  proceed,  what 
distances  he  will  have  to  cover,  what  obstacles  he  will 
have  to  surmount  or  clear  away.  We  in  France  have 
never  neglected  an  opportunity  to  instill  in  our  pupils 
horror  of  falsehood,  of  exaggeration,  of  spying,  or  to 
teach  them  the  value  of  the  virtues  peculiar  to  society. 
Many  worthy  men  have  come  up  through  our  schools 
devoted  to  their  families,  and  pleasant  companions 
for  their  friends ;  but  the  excellent  type  of  good 
bourgeois,  the  amiable  man  of  the  world,  the  honor- 
able man,  are  no  longer  sufficient  for  the  French  de- 
mocracy nor  for  the  present  state  of  human  civilization. 

We  must  prepare  young  men  to  understand  the 
moral  and  social  questions  which  they  have  to  meet; 


306    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

we  should  prepare  them  to  solve  these  questions 
exactly,  unselfishly,  and  justly.  "This  is  treading 
on  dangerous  ground,"  you  may  say.  That  depends. 
These  questions  have  all  arisen  in  the  past;  they 
were  decided  in  a  certain  way.  We  can  show  how 
the  form  these  questions  took  and  their  solution  were 
related  to  certain  conditions  of  science  and  of  civiliza- 
tion. One  of  Pascal's  Provinciates,  a  chapter  of 
Montaigne,  a  dissertation  by  Ronsard,  a  narrative  by 
Monluc,  a  tragedy  by  Corneille,  one  of  Bossuet's 
sermons,  a  book  of  TeUmaque,  one  of  Voltaire's  letters, 
a  dissertation  by  Rousseau,  a  chapter  of  Montesquieu, 
an  epoch  of  Buffon,  an  extract  from  Chateaubriand, 
a  poem  by  Hugo  or  Lamartine,  and  a  narrative  of 
Michelet,  if  we  know  how  to  select  and  interpret  them, 
contain  all  the  problems  of  conscience  and  all  the 
social  problems  which  it  is  necessary  that  a  young 
mind  should  know.  The  autonomy  of  the  conscience, 
liberty  of  thought  and  action,  the  possibility  or  im- 
possibility of  morality  without  dogma,  political  liberty, 
economic  problems  —  there  is  nothing  which  may  not 
be  found  in  a  literary  text,  simplified,  clarified,  reduced 
to  its  essential  elements.  Presented  in  its  historical 
form,  as  an  historical  question,  each  one  of  these 
problems  may  be  defined  without  polemics,  without 
fanaticism,  and  without  violating  the  neutrality  of 
the  school,  if  for  the  sake  of  neutrality  we  are  not  for- 
bidden to  discuss  those  subjects  that  others  claim  the 
sole  right  to  teach. 

Is  this  equivalent  to  saying  that  we  must  not  bring 
the  minds  of  our  pupils  up  to  the  present  .f*  May  we 
not  show  them  whether  the  former  problems  exist 


GUSTAVE  LANSON  307 

today,  and  show  them  the  form  these  problems  assume 
in  the  society  of  the  present,  how  the  solutions  of  the 
past  are  either  disputed  or  rejected  or  confirmed  today  ? 
This  must  always  be  done  briefly  and  discreetly,  with- 
out display  of  personal  prejudice,  without  dictatorial 
dogmatism,  without  fanatical  proselytism;  it  must 
be  historical  exposition,  not  catechism  or  preaching, 
but  the  real  definition  of  the  spirit  of  a  given  epoch, 
little  or  great.  Our  secret  preference  will  inevitably 
make  itself  felt  quite  enough  without  our  emphasizing 
it.  On  two  or  three  points  we  may  venture  a  little 
further,  because  there  can  be  neither  disadvantage 
nor  offense  in  speaking  emphatically  on  the  twofold 
and  indivisible  love  of  France  and  of  humanity,  on  the 
universal  principles  of  liberty  and  solidarity,  on  re- 
spect for  the  law.  Here  each  one  must  teach  accord- 
ing to  his  temperament,  his  spirit,  and  his  conscience. 

Although  we  are  directing  all  our  efforts  to  teach 
literature  historically  and  to  form  the  intellectual, 
moral,  and  civic  conscience  through  study  of  this 
subject,  let  us  not  therefore  fear  the  neglect  of  the 
aesthetic  education. 

We  shall  accomplish  the  essential  precisely  because 
we  have  eliminated  what  is  useless  and  impossible  and 
have  avoided  wrong  methods.  Our  schoolboy  who 
has  studied  language  and  grammar,  who  has  regarded 
the  fitness,  clearness,  and  precision  of  language,  who 
has  studied  the  relation  between  form  and  idea,  es- 
pecially the  relation  of  the  form  and  the  idea  to  life, 
and  who  has  been  in  contact  with  only  the  master- 
pieces of  literature,  will  not  have  learned  how  to  write 
articles  of  criticism.     He  will  not  know  how  to  discuss 


308    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

formulas  or  resolve  the  vast  and  abstruse  questions 
of  aesthetics  or  of  literary  history,  but  he  will  possess 
all  the  elements  of  aesthetic  culture.  He  will  not  be  an 
artist,  but  still  less  will  he  be  an  imitator  or  a  bungler. 
He  will  have  acquired  the  technical  knowledge  and 
have  gone  through  the  practical  apprenticeship  which 
are  the  bases  and  conditions  of  good  taste  and  artistic 
sense.  He  can  develop  these  interests  at  the  uni- 
versity if  he  goes  there,  or  through  reading  at  home  if 
he  continues  to  read.  We  shall  not  have  given  him 
taste,  but  rather  the  means  for  developing  taste  if  he 
has  the  capacity.  We  shall  have  taught  him  all  that 
he  can  be  taught,  without  inoculating  him  with  a 
morbid  propensity  for  writing  or  the  fever  for  criticism. 

Perhaps  he  will  not  write  a  single  dissertation  on 
poetry  as  long  as  he  lives,  but  he  will  read  the  poets  — 
an  unusual  custom  of  late,  if  we  can  believe  the  editors. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  our  pupils  leave  school  with 
their  whole  lives  before  them,  that  the  end  of  their 
studies  is  only  the  beginning  of  life,  and  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  have  taught  them  all  that  they  will  know, 
or  to  have  made  them  do  all  that  they  will  do.  We 
cannot  and  we  should  not  hope  to  furnish  them  any- 
thing but  the  elements,  which  they  may  or  may  not 
use  —  that  is  their  affair ;  but  we  can  inspire  in  them 
a  determination  to  do  something  with  the  knowledge 
they  have  acquired. 


PAUL  DESJARDINS 

Paul  Desjardins  (1859-  ),  publicist,  college  and  lycee  teacher, 
member  of  the  Institute. 

INTERPRETATION  OF  TEXTS  IN  THE  LYCEE » 

Interpretation  of  texts  occupies  the  first  place  in  the 
literature  programs  in  that  secondary  education  of 
girls  for  which  we  are  serving  our  apprenticeship. 
This  exercise  appears  as  early  as  the  third  primary 
class,  where  children  of  eleven  and  twelve  years  of  age 
are  asked  tQ/* prepare  a  few  passages"  before  the  same 
passages  are  explained  in  class.  From  this  time  until 
the  education  is  completed,  the  articles  of  the  program 
of  each  year  relating  to  the  French  language  and  litera- 
ture always  begin  with  "interpretation  of  texts." 

M.  H.  Bernes,  in  his  report  to  the  Higher  Council 
of  Education,  July,  1897,  justifies  this  primacy  ac- 
corded the  study  of  texts  on  the  ground  that  since 
their  meaning  is  revealed  only  by  detailed  study,  a 
habit  of  "intellectual  precision"  is  thereby  developed. 
M.  Bernes  further  explains  that  he  refers  to  "exercises 
of  interpretation  that  are  both  literal  and  literary." 
We  are  thus  admonished  to  concentrate  our  attention 
on  an  exercise  which  will  be  valuable  only  as  it  is  in- 
telligently conducted. 

When  we  consider  that  all  literary  teaching  should 
"be  based  on  the  study  of  texts  and  should  culminate 
in  this  study,"  we  get  a  clearer  insight  into  the  em- 
phasis we  should  give  to  it.  Nevertheless,  in  order  to 
form  an  adequate  idea  of  this  particular  type  of  work, 

^  Notes  of  a  lecture  on  "  Practical  Pedagogy "  in  the  first-year  literature 
class  at  the  Ecole  de  Sevres. 

309 


310    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

we  must  give  it  its  proper  place  in  the  scheme  of  second- 
ary education. 

Let  us  recall  briefly  that  this  study  responds  to  a 
social  need.  The  division  of  labor  grows  apace,  and 
tends  to  narrower  and  narrower  specialization.  If  all 
the  members  of  society  had  specialized  from  child- 
hood in  their  different  fields  of  labor,  they  would  lack 
common  interest,  they  would  have  no  basis  of  com- 
munication, and  society  finally  would  be  but  a  group 
of  organisms  without  collective  conscience. 

In  instituting  non-specialized  secondary  education 
as  a  State  function,  society  has  wished  to  develop  this 
necessary  mutual  understanding  and  intercourse  among 
its  members.  It  has  wished  to  combat  the  narrowing 
tendency  of  specialized  trades  by  offering  to  all  young 
men  for  whom  the  necessity  of  gaining  a  hvelihood  is 
not  imminent  a  uniform  period  of  preparation,  an  ap- 
prenticeship in  humanity.  It  accomplishes  or  rather 
tries  to  accomplish  this  by  reducing  the  inheritance  of 
civilization  to  a  form  which  all  may  assimilate  and 
organize  for  the  social  good.  Such  is  the  controlling 
idea  of  our  secondary  education.  All  this  is  true  not 
only  of  the  secondary  education  of  boys,  where  the 
need  of  taking  such  precautions  against  narrow  speciali- 
zation is  particularly  felt,  but  also  almost  to  the  same 
extent  in  the  education  of  girls. 

In  the  first  place  an  increasing  number  of  women 
even  in  the  well-to-do  classes  are  beginning  to  seek 
economic  independence  in  the  exercise  of  a  trade. 
Secondly,  the  inequality  of  fortune  and  social  position 
that  exists  among  the  various  classes  is  not  less  dis- 
organizing for  the  women  than  is  the  diversity  of  the 


PAUL  DESJARDINS  311 

professions  for  the  men.  The  remark  of  the  prefect's 
wife  in  referring  to  the  baihff's  wife,  and  of  the  baiUff's 
wife  when  the  butcher's  wife  is  mentioned,  "I  never 

see  Madame    "  is  only  too  accurate,  in  the  sense 

that  these  different  Frenchwomen  are  total  strangers 
to  one  another,  and  live  mutually  exclusive  lives. 
Finally,  the  secondary  education  of  the  future  women, 
if  it  is  to  carry  out  the  aim  of  those  who  founded  it, 
should  harmonize  with  that  of  the  future  men  and  be 
guided  by  the  same  principles. 

Our  function  in  society  as  teachers  being  thus  recog- 
nized, we  shall  state  this  simple  truth  from  our  ex- 
perience. Men  differentiated  by  accident  and  environ- 
ment resemble  each  other  and  hold  to  each  other  by 
virtue  of  a  certain  inner  life  that  is  common  to  all. 
Every  change  from  the  superficial  to  the  profound, 
from  that  which  appears  to  be  to  that  which  is,  from 
conventionality  to  sincerity,  from  ready-made  opinion 
to  independent  criticism,  from  empiricism  to  serious 
thought,  has  the  effect  of  leading  every  individual 
to  discover  the  universal  ego.  That  being  true,  the 
teaching  which  aims  to  produce  this  effect  will  propose 
as  its  general  maxim  the  habit  of  introspection.  It 
will  attempt  to  stimulate  the  inner  life  of  the  pupil 
and  make  it  valuable  to  him.  It  will  seek  to  develop 
concentration  and  the  power  of  accurate  judgment. 
In  short,  it  will  endeavor  to  make  him  master  of  the 
knowledge  presented  to  him  through  the  spoken  and 
the  written  word. 

It  follows,  then,  that  our  first  necessary  professional 
qualification  is  the  power  of  visualizing  the  psychic 
life  of  children  in  its  wavering  course  and  of  having 


312    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

our  sympathies  keenly  aroused  thereby.  When  dis- 
tinguished and  even  powerful  minds  are  too  much 
absorbed  either  by  the  outside  world  or  by  personal 
development,  they  often  lose  this  power.  Taine,  for 
instance,  found  his  teaching  (at  Nevers,  1851-1852) 
extremely  tiresome,  because  he  lacked  psychological 
imagination.  This  great  word-painter  of  mountain 
and  forest  scenery  and  of  the  customs  of  the  past  was 
as  unable  to  enter  sympathetically  into  the  thought 
of  his  pupils  as  he  was  later  unable  to  enter  into  the 
thought  of  the  members  of  the  National  Convention 
of  1793.  The  vocation  of  the  good  secondary  teacher 
has  characteristics  in  common  with  that  of  the  dramatist 
and  these  are  the  tests :  he  interests  himself  more  in 
the  Uving  pupil  than  in  books;  he  catches  the  look 
in  all  the  young  eyes  raised  up  to  him  and  reads  its 
meaning. 

Let  us  come  back  to  literary  studies  and  the  in- 
terpretation of  texts.  In  secondary  work  of  this 
character,  the  service  that  can  be  rendered  by  these 
subjects  is  at  once  apparent,  for  the  study  of  htera- 
ture  is  observation  of  the  human  mind  in  action. 
Literary  research  considers  individual  minds,  each  one 
of  which  forms  an  entity  at  once  complex  and  coherent. 
It  proposes  men  for  our  analysis,  and  not  man,  as 
scientific  psychology.  Or,  more  properly  speaking, 
it  deals  with  men  intuitively  rather  than  analytically ; 
it  represents  rather  than  defines  them. 

Accordingly  we  expect  literary  study  to  develop 
in  young  women  the  ability  to  grasp  the  life  of  thought 
and  feeling  as  an  entity,  inquisitive,  independent,  un- 
certain, but  nevertheless  logical,  mysterious,  captivat- 


PAUL  DESJARDINS  313 

ing,  instructive,  and  beautiful.  One  can  well  say 
that  part  of  the  rude  discord  in  our  society  comes 
from  the  absence  of  such  an  understanding.  For 
want  of  psychological  imagination  our  contemporaries, 
men  and  women,  treat  each  other  and  really  see  each 
other  as  monsters  that  should  be  cast  outside  the  pale 
of  society,  or,  still  worse,  that  look  upon  each  other 
with  the  same  indifference  and  coldness  that  they 
bestow  upon  material  objects.  Many  women  make 
dolls  of  themselves  because  they  have  not  learned  to 
enjoy  the  ppetry  and  the  riches  in  their  own  inner 
lives  and  in  those  of  others.  Thus  we  see  that  litera- 
ture like  history  is  not  so  much  a  subject  of  instruction 
as  a  point  of  view. 

After  having  pointed  out  what  is  inherent  in  the 
literary  point  of  view,  we  must  describe  the  appropriate 
method  to  be  followed,  for  you  will  doubtless  grant 
that  literary  teaching  should  be  given  in  a  literary 
manner. 

Now  if  it  be  true  that  knowledge  of  literature  has 
for  its  object  the  analysis  of  the  individual,  the  proper 
use  of  a  word,  in  short,  something  essentially  concrete, 
it  is  clear  that  this  can  be  attained  only  through  in- 
tuition. Literary  teaching  is  artistic  teaching,  which 
does  not  advance  proofs  but  which  makes,  or  at  least 
attempts  to  make,  the  pupil  feel.  It  demands  of  the 
teacher  a  certain  capacity,  and  it  tries  to  develop  in 
the  pupil  a  similar  capacity.  We  might  define  this 
as  the  capacity  to  understand  both  theoretically  and 
practically :  (a)  what  is  characteristic,  and  (b)  what 
is  harmonious.  What  is  characteristic  needs  to  be 
perceived  through  a  mental  attitude  of  alert  curiosity, 


314    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

of  surprise  and  wonder,  combined  with  the  ability 
to  differentiate  and  interpret  on  the  basis  of  psycho- 
logical experience.  What  is  harmonious  needs  to  be 
discovered  through  recognition  of  the  relations  exist- 
ing between  the  material  and  spiritual  worlds,  so  that 
these  may  become  a  rich  source  of  enjoyment  for  the 
sensitive  and  beauty-loving  soul. 

Literary  education,  therefore,  is  acquired  through 
intuition,  report  and  summary  being  of  no  use.  What 
is  necessary  is  immediate  contact  with  the  original 
texts,  which  should  always  be  read,  never  related. 
Let  us  read  the  texts  one  after  another,  clearing  away 
the  difficulties,  whether  of  ignorance,  of  abstraction 
and  verbalism,  of  hearsay  and  irrelevant  comment,  of 
indifference  and  timidity,  in  fact  all  those  hindrances 
which  prevent  the  pupil  from  recognizing  himself  in 
the  majestic  work  speaking  out  of  the  past.  Let  us 
have  the  courage  to  bring  the  authors  as  near  to  our 
pupils  as  we  can ;  let  us  bring  the  pupils  into  contact 
with  their  original  freshness,  their  crudeness  or  delicacy, 
their  wonder.  Let  us  even  try  to  make  the  ideas 
subjective,  if  that  be  possible. 

For  this  reason  the  texts  must  be  interpreted. 
Mere  reading  will  not  suffice,  because  the  reading  of 
inexperienced  boys  and  girls  is  not  true  reading. 
Explanation,  the  preparation  for  the  reading,  the 
scaffolding  as  it  were,  is  a  preliminary  and  necessary 
condition  to  effective  reading.  I  cannot  urge  upon 
you  too  strongly  such  explanation  of  texts  at  a  time 
when  the  secondary  education  of  girls,  almost  as  much 
as  that  of  boys,  is  in  danger  of  being  warped  by  the 
ever  present  thought  of  examinations.     Then,  if  we 


PAUL  DESJARDINS  315 

are  not  careful,  we  shall  have  to  train  our  pupils  for 
years  in  order  that  they  may  be  able  to  discuss  in- 
telligently for  fifteen  minutes  before  an  examination 
jury  a  page  of  French  chosen  at  random.  Here  we 
are  confronted  by  a  question  of  an  entirely  different 
nature,  for  we  have  to  teach  girls  to  read  who  do  not 
know  how  to  read,  and  we  have  to  do  our  work  so 
thoroughly  that  they  will  never  lose  the  power  they 
have  acquired. 


GABRIEL  COMPAYRE 

Gabriel  Compayre  (1842-1912),  rector  of  the  Academy  of  Lyons, 
general  inspector  of  public  instruction,  and  member  of  the  Listitute. 
His  Histoire  critique  des  doctrines  de  I'Sducation  en  France,  crowned 
in  1877  by  the  Academy  of  Moral  Science  and  later  by  the  French 
Academy,  has  become  a  classic.  He  has  written  numerous  peda- 
gogical works,  several  of  which  are  so  well  known  in  the  United 
States  as  to  make  it  unnecessary  to  quote  extensively  from  his 
writings. 

THE  QUESTION  OF  OVERWORK 

Everywhere  there  is  a  heated  campaign  of  opposition 
and  criticism  against  the  so-called  homicidal  education 
of  our  lycees  and  colleges.  If  this  campaign  of  mis- 
placed sentimentality  were  to  continue,  it  would  cer- 
tainly end  by  convincing  teachers  and  professors  that 
the  ideal  and  mission  of  the  profession  is  to  make 
people  work  as  little  as  possible,  and  the  lazy  students 
would  easily  persuade  themselves,  without  very  much 
regret,  that  by  persevering  in  laziness  they  were  ful- 
filling a  social  duty. 

Doctors  and  the  hygienists  naturally  take  the  most 
active  part  in  this  campaign.  They  have  heard,  they 
say,  the  complaints  of  the  parents;  they  have  wit- 
nessed the  tears  of  the  mothers  when  the  students 
come  home  with  their  notebooks  crammed  with  exer- 
cises. The  members  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine 
have  officially  drawn  up  an  alarming  list  of  the  dis- 
eases to  which  the  conditions  of  school  life  are  supposed 
to  be  conducive :  myopia,  cephalalgia,  hypertrophy 
of  the  heart,  albuminuria,  arterio-sclerosis,  typhoid 
fever  —  I  am  skipping  some,  the  worst  of  them,  whose 
barbarous  names  alone  make  one  shudder.     Ah !    you 

316 


GABRIEL  COMPAYRfi  317 

young  people,  you  did  not  realize  it,  but  those  are  the 
terrible  illnesses  to  which  you  are  exposed  as  a  penalty 
for  having  wished  to  read  Homer  and  Vergil  in  the 
original.  The  air  you  breathe  in  your  classrooms  is  full 
of  treacherous  miasms.  Germs  of  extraordinary  dis- 
eases circulate  through  them  or  lurk  there  permanently. 
Be  careful !  In  their  truly  imaginative  observations 
the  doctors  have  just  discovered  a  fever  peculiar  to 
the  schools,  the  fever  of  overwork. 

Doubtless  there  is  much  to  be  heeded  in  the  reports 
of  the  doctors.  We,  too,  think  it  advisable  to  multiply 
recreations,  to  change  the  age  limit  for  examinations, 
and  to  develop  gymnastic  work.  But  under  pretext 
of  restoring  the  endangered  equilibrium  we  must  not 
restore  it  to  the  detriment  of  the  studies.  Do  not,  I 
pray  you,  do  not,  on  the  pretext  of  economizing  the 
strength  of  our  children,  preach  intellectual  inertia 
and  encourage  the  younger  generation  to  seek  only 
comfort  and  to  eschew  all  effort.  And  under  pretext 
of  protecting  the  health  of  the  body,  do  not,  on  the 
morrow  of  the  laws  making  instruction  obligatory, 
condemn  the  mind  to  obligatory  ignorance. 


ALBERT  DUMONT 

Albert  Dumont  (1842-1884),  director  of  the  French  schools  at 
Athens  and  at  Rome ;  rector  of  the  Academy  of  Grenoble ;  sub- 
sequently appointed  by  Jules  Ferry  as  director  of  higher  education ; 
overtaken  by  premature  death  while  engaged  upon  a  comprehensive 
plan  for  the  reform  of  this  latter  field.  A  posthumous  work.  Notes 
et  discours,  is  his  pedagogical  legacy.  It  gives  evidence  of  his  con- 
viction "that  the  heart  of  the  fatherland  should  beat  in  the  school." 

DEMOCRACY  AND  EDUCATION  ^ 

Public  spirit  is  to  nations  what  character  is  to  in- 
dividuals, an  aggregate  of  sound  ideas,  controlled  by  a 
will  which  measures  the  goal  of  its  forces,  sees  nothing 
higher  than  truth,  and  knows  the  power  of  good.  We 
acknowledge  that  it  is  formed  under  diverse  influences, 
but  the  most  efficient  of  all  and  the  one  entirely  in 
our  hands,  for  which  we  are  responsible  and  which 
should  therefore  preoccupy  us  constantly,  is  and  al- 
ways will  be  education.  In  a  general  way  the  progress 
of  right  judgment  in  our  country  will  be  the  progress 
of  teaching  itself. 

The  idea  that  the  university  has  formed  of  the  role 
which  education  plays  in  the  State  does  not  permit 
any  one  of  the  three  divisions  of  teaching  —  uni- 
versity, lycee,  or  school  —  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  other 
two. 

Secondary  work  poorly  done  gives  the  universities 
a  poorly  prepared  student  body,  and  universities  that 
are  careless  make  the  recruiting  of  secondary  instruc- 
tion difficult.  Universities,  lycees,  and  colleges  pre- 
pare and  test  the  reforms  which  little  by  little  improve 
elementary  teaching,  modify  its  methods,  and  raise 

*  From  Notes  et  discours,  pages  99-100. 
318 


ALBERT  DUMONT  319 

its  standards.  Primary  education,  on  the  other  hand, 
teaches  every  one  what  knowledge  is,  why  it  must  be 
valued,  and  how  it  merits  the  sacrifices  that  the  tax- 
payers make  for  it.  The  more  crowded  the  schools 
are,  the  more  pupils  the  colleges  and  the  universities 
receive. 

DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  THREE  DEGREES  OF 
EDUCATION  1 

Posterity  will  say  that  during  the  short  interval 
through  which  we  are  passing  at  present  all  the  tools 
of  the  highest  learning  were  renewed,  and  that  this 
is  the  work  of  a  democracy  which  wished  compulsory 
education  in  the  elementary  school  only  if  it  ^ere  ac- 
companied by  an  adequate  higher  education.  In- 
deed, if  it  be  true  that  primary  education  is  indis- 
pensable to  all,  if  secondary  education  should  be  of- 
fered to  every  pupil  of  the  primary  school  who  can 
receive  it  with  profit,  the  one  and  the  other  would 
risk  stagnation  and  loss  of  power  if  they  did  not  con- 
stantly receive  new  principles  of  activity  and  of  life 
from  higher  education.  Primary  and  secondary  edu- 
cation are  the  results,  as  it  were,  of  higher  education ; 
they  furnish  it  with  recruits,  and  from  it  they  draw 
their  teachers. 

The  democracy  is  not  making  a  mistake.  It  does 
not  encourage  the  sciences  solely  because  they  are  an 
incomparable  source  of  wealth  for  commerce  and  in- 
dustry. It  looks  higher  and  sees  further;  it  con- 
siders graduate  studies  as  the  very  source,  without 

1  From  Notes  et  discours,  page  141. 


320    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

which  the  others  can  neither  subsist  nor  develop. 
Therefore,  it  places  among  the  benefactors  of  the 
country  all  who  have  contributed  to  the  progress  of 
truth,  however  specialized  or  minute  their  researches 
may  have  been. 

The  democracy  which  contributes  so  effectively  to 
the  development  of  higher  education  knows  that  the 
most  disinterested  cultivation  of  the  things  of  the 
mind  is  also  the  most  active  agent  for  the  progress 
of  public  spirit,  —  a  practical  force,  responsible  en- 
tirely for  our  national  instruction  and  education. 


PAUL  PAINLEVE 

Paul  Painleve  (1863-  ),  mathematician;  chevalier  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor;  officer  of  Public  Instruction;  member  of  the 
Institute ;  professor  in  the  faculty  of  science  (University  of  Paris) 
and  at  the  Ecole  Poly  technique ;  Minister  of  Public  Instruction, 
Fine  Arts,  and  Inventions  relating  to  National  Defense. 

ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE   INTERNATIONAL 
EDUCATIONAL  CONFERENCE ' 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Forty-five  years  ago,  just 
after  our  defeat,  Jean  Mace,  the  adopted  child  of 
Alsace  —  of  our  Alsace  which  is  to  become  one  with 
its  real  country  again,  thanks  to  the  heroism  of  our 
soldiers  —  gave  his  entire  attention  to  the  Educational 
League  {Ligue  de  VEnseignement).  Our  assembly  here 
today  is  due  to  the  initiative  of  this  organization. 

According  to  a  famous  saying,  the  German  school- 
master won  the  victories  of  Sadowa  and  Sedan. 
France's  task  was  to  change  the  conditions  that  led 
to  her  defeat.  The  program  of  the  League,  at  that 
time  daring,  now  commonplace,  may  be  summed  up 
in  the  phrases  :  compulsory  education,  free  education, 
secular  education;  compulsory,  because  the  child's 
interests  demand  that  he  should  not  be  kept  in  igno- 
rance on  account  of  the  ignorance  of  his  parents ;  free, 
for  it  is  adding  penury  to  poverty  to  deprive  a  child 
of  all  education  because  those  who  are  bringing  him  up 
cannot  pay  for  it ;  secular,  because  the  State  in  carry- 
ing out  its  duty  as  teacher  has  no  right  to  force  any  par- 
ticular religious  belief  upon  its  children. 

You  are  aware.  Gentlemen,  what  a  storm  of  criticism 

*  Delivered  Sunday,  May  21,  1916,  in  the  large  amphitheater  of  the 
Sorbonne,  at  the  close  of  the  international  educational  conference. 

S21 


322    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

this  program  has  raised.  You  have  not  forgotten  the 
anxiety  and  the  distrust  shown  only  too  readily  with 
regard  to  the  educational  work  of  the  Republic,  even 
during  the  months  directly  preceding  the  war.  This 
war,  the  greatest  of  all  wars,  has  magnificently  given 
the  lie  to  this  feeling  of  alarm. 

It  was  claimed  that  the  secular  school  would  pro- 
duce rebels.  Who  has  held  back  at  the  call  of  the 
country  in  its  need.^  It  was  prophesied  that  there 
would  be  quarrels  and  discord  between  the  two  parties 
in  France.  When,  pray,  has  France  possessed  larger 
and  more  closely  united  armies  .^^  More  fortunate 
than  the  first  Republic,  ours  has  known  no  Vendee; 
her  children  have  gathered  unanimously  around  the 
immortal  charter  of  the  Rights  of  Man.  On  behalf 
of  outraged  justice,  the  freedom  of  humanity,  the 
rights  of  naJons,  the  respect  for  the  weak,  these  her 
sons  know  how  to  fight,  to  die,  and  to  conquer,  whether 
they  be  pupils  of  the  public  or  the  private  schools. 
Let  us  therefore  be  doubly  thankful  for  this  holy 
union;  first  and  foremost,  because  it  represents  a 
unified  force  in  the  country  at  the  hour  of  her  supreme 
struggle,  but  also  because  it  has  been  established 
upon  principles  which  we  have  always  upheld,  which 
are  inscribed  in  our  hearts,  and  which  appear  to  us 
to  constitute  the  moral  inheritance  of  humanity. 

You  may  therefore  be  proud.  Gentlemen,  of  the  part 
you  have  played  in  building  up  the  spirit  of  the  nation. 
The  soldiers  of  the  Marne,  of  the  Yser,  of  Verdun,  all 
the  countless  heroes  whose  unknown  fame  could  fill 
ten  centuries  with  stories,  are  the  children  of  the  Re- 
public, of  forty-five  years  of  republican  Hfe.    And  you 


PAUL  PAINLEVE  323 

yourselves  have  been  the  good  workmen  who  have 
brought  about  the  educational  organization  that  has 
molded  these  fearless  hearts. 

In  our  humble  quarters,  sometimes  in  a  barn,  where 
the  schools  have  been  converted  into  hospitals,  some- 
times in  a  cellar  as  in  Reims,  what  treasures  of  intimate 
and  touching  solidarity  are  being  revealed !  And 
how  justified  you  are  in  hoping  that  the  spirit  animat- 
ing this  work  of  war  may  animate  and  vivify  in  the 
future  the  works  of  peace  which  only  too  often  lie 
idle  in  our  schools !  Call  the  children  to  your  aid, 
organize  friendly  societies  which  they  can  conduct 
themselves  and  children's  anti-alcoholic  leagues,  as  in 
Belgium.  By  means  of  the  dispensary  and  holiday 
camps,  wage  war  on  consumption.  After  the  cruel 
lessons  we  have  suffered,  it  is  more  thr  I '  ever  our 
sovereign  duty  to  watch  over  the  health  oftiie  race. 

Give  us  your  help  in  educating  those  orphans  left 
by  the  war.  Already  the  scheme  of  adoption  by 
schools  is  in  full  swing.  The  generous  enterprise  of 
the  Franco-American  League  under  the  organization 
of  the  army  orphanage  has  been  set  in  operation.  All 
these  are  desirable  activities.  The  Government,  hav- 
ing decided  to  define  the  standing  of  those  adopted 
children  of  the  country,  desires  that  these  orphans 
should  form,  as  it  were,  the  very  pith  of  the  young 
people.     You  will  help  them  also. 

But  compulsory  extension  schools  for  girls  as  well 
as  boys  represent  the  most  important  and  the  boldest 
of  all  your  schemes.  After  the  precious  qualities  of 
our  race  have  saved  our  country  from  the  formidable 
aggression  that  proved  their  value,  shall  we  let  them 


324    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

sink  again  into  lethargy?  No  government  would 
longer  be  worthy  the  name  that  did  not  bring  all  its 
enthusiasm  to  bear  upon  the  development  of  this  in- 
ternal source  of  wealth  represented  by  the  children  of 
France,  workers-to-be  in  the  most  liberal  of  civiliza- 
tions. 

This  plan  of  extension  schools  must  renounce  all 
bureaucratic  ideas.  There  must  be  no  divisions,  no 
formality,  no  competition  among  committees.  It  is 
a  question  of  founding  a  great  organization,  which 
must  be  supple  and  pliant,  and  all  forces  and  all  in- 
dividuals must  work  together.  It  is  not  suflScient 
that  the  four  Ministries  only  should  collaborate.  They 
must  also  appeal  to  private  initiative,  to  all  evening- 
school  societies,  and  to  employers'  and  working  men's 
organizations,  for  unless  all  work  together  the  effort 
of  the  State  would  be  useless.  "Union  for  action" 
must  be  our  motto. 

We  must  combine  all  our  efforts  so  that  France 
in  peace  and  victory,  despite  her  devastation  and  her 
suffering,  may  show  herself  a  model  nation.  A  model 
nation  is  not  one  that  rapes  and  plunders  and  is  ready 
to  hurl  itself  on  weaker  nations  in  order  to  grow  rich 
through  despoiling  them.  It  is  a  brave  and  upright 
nation,  claiming  for  herself  no  right  that  she  would 
not  be  willing  to  give  to  others.  A  model  nation  is  not 
one  whose  people  are  enslaved,  in  which  order  rests 
upon  the  passive  obedience  of  the  mass  of  individuals 
to  a  few.  It  is  a  nation  of  freemen  in  which  order  rests 
upon  discipline  arising  from  a  consensus  of  opinion, 
a  nation  in  which,  as  a  great  American  educator  has 
expressed  it,  each  one  feels  obliged  to  work  for  the  good 


PAUL  PAINLEVfi  325 

of  all  and  carries  on  his  trade  conscientiously  as  if  it 
were  a  public  duty,  a  nation  in  which  the  workshop  is 
healthful  and  the  home  bright,  a  nation  in  which  the 
pleasures  of  the  mind,  the  love  of  beauty,  and  the  love 
of  truth  are  not  the  prerogative  of  the  minority,  but 
are  free  to  all  according  to  their  intelligence  and  their 
taste.  Our  eyes  will  never  behold  this  ideal  nation, 
but  we  can  at  least  aspire  to  it  with  our  whole  soul, 
and  work  together  according  to  our  strength  toward 
its  accomplishment. 

We  shall  Jbe  stimulated  to  surmount  all  obstacles 
by  the  needs  of  coming  generations  and  still  more  by 
the  remembrance  of  those  who  have  fallen  and  made 
these  efforts  necessary.  Gentlemen,  since  we  are  here 
as  guests  of  the  Educational  League,  how  can  we  help 
giving  one  last  thought  to  the  thirty  thousand  teachers, 
school  and  university  professors,  many  of  whom,  alas ! 
have  fallen,  and  of  whom  many  at  this  very  moment 
block  the  invader's  course  with  their  bodies  ?  Nearly 
every  day  a  new  leaf  from  the  honor  roll  of  the  uni- 
versity is  placed  before  me.  The  list  of  teachers  in- 
scribed thereon  is  long,  teachers  of  all  ranks,  whose 
glorious  deaths  give  the  most  brilliant  dedication  to 
their  moral  teaching.  Each  leaf  of  this  book  increases 
our  grief,  but  each  leaf  adds  to  educational  history  some 
new  examples  of  heroism. 

As  one  reads  through  the  names  of  those  mentioned 
in  despatches,  with  the  brief  reasons  for  decoration  or 
promotion,  or  as  one  reads  the  letters  from  any  of  the 
fallen,  letters  so  simple  and  heroic  that  they  might 
make  the  finest  of  anthologies  of  patriotism,  and  at 
the  same  time  are  so  noble-hearted,  one  is  reminded 


326    FRENCH  EDUCATIONAL  IDEALS  OF  TODAY 

of  the  poet's  words,  "The  more  I  am  French,  the  more 
I  am  human."  One  understands  that  such  are  the 
men  who  have  educated  the  race  of  unconquerable 
soldiers,  capable  not  only  of  that  dash  which  has  al- 
ways been  a  recognized  characteristic  of  our  race,  but 
also  of  a  persistent  heroism  which  has  astonished  the 
whole  world.  If  such  examples  inspire  us,  not  only 
during  the  war,  but  well  beyond  it,  there  will  be  no 
difficulty  we  cannot  surmount,  no  dream  we  cannot 
realize.  Like  the  invisible  sap  that  causes  the  vegeta- 
tion to  spring  up  even  among  ruins,  so  the  courage 
of  our  fallen  will  raise  up  over  the  bloody  ruins  of  this 
war  a  France  united  at  last  and  glorious  in  the  midst 
of  a  liberated  Europe. 


Book  Notices 


SCHOOL  EFFICIENCY  MONOGRAPHS 

STANDARDS  IN  ENGLISH 

By  John  J.  Mahoney 

Principal  State  Normal  School,  Lowell.  Massachusetts 

A  PRACTICAL  HANDBOOK  FOR  TEACHERS 
that  sets  forth  standards  of  achievement 
attainable  by  pupils 


I 


THIS  book  sets  forth  the  minimum  standards  | 

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economy  of  time.  | 

s 

The  content  of  a  course  in  English  is  outlined  by  grades  | 

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L  Specific  statement  of  the  aims  of  instruction.  | 

2.  Suggested  illustrative  material.  | 

3.  Illustrative   oral    efforts.  | 

4.  Common  errors  of  speech  and  spelling.  i 

5.  Hints  concerning  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it.  | 

6.  Preparation  for  routine  work.  | 

a 

Standards   in   English   is   a   workable   course   of  study  | 

based    on    the   determination   of   what   children    actually  | 
can   do.    The   style   is   plain,   direct   and    non-technical. 
The  extensive  sale  of  the  book  attests  its  value  to  teachers. 

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The  first  book  on  reconstruction 
Published  Noifember  igi8 

DEMOCRACY    AND 
WORLD    RELATIONS 

By  DAVID  STARR  JORDAN 

1.  It  aims  to  show  that  self-government  is  essential  to 
freedom,  order,  and  justice,  and  that  the  permanence 
of  democracy  is  bound  up  with  international  peace, 
while  the  dynastic  system  is  antagonistic  to  both  de- 
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2.  It  will  contribute  toward  solving  the  puzzling  prob- 
lems of  reorganizing  government,  industry,  and  hu- 
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applying  scientific  knowledge  to  their  solution. 

3.  It  is  courageous  from  start  to  finish — and  sanely  opti- 
mistic. There  is  no  note  of  "pacifism."  It  does  not 
deal  with  the  war,  but  with  conditions  which  preceded 
it  and  those  which  are  following  it. 

4.  Its  contents  cover  General  Considerations,  National- 
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ture of  Democracy,  Internationalism  and  Federation, 
International  Law,  Arbitration  and  Conciliation,  a 
New  Order,  and  an  Appendix  on  Pan-germanism. 

5.  It  moves  along  with  cumulative  persuasion  from  gen- 
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6.  It  is  written  in  a  candid,  non-controversial  spirit,  as 
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Illustrated.    Cloth.  $3.00.  | 

SELF-SURVEYS  BY  TEACHER-TRAINING  SCHOOLS  I 

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H.  Daniels,  W.  F.  Dearborn,  F.  B.  Dresslar,  G.  W.  | 

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I     STANDARDS  IN  ENGLISH  I 

I              By  John  J.  Mahoney  | 

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I  PLAY  SCHOOL  SERIES 

I  Edited  by  Clark  W.  Hetherington 

I    Educating  by  Story-Telling 

I  SHOWING     THE     VALUE     OF     STORY-TELLING     AS     AN     EDUCA- 

TIONAL TOOL   FOR  THE  USE  OF  ALL  WORKERS  WITH  CHILDREN 

By  Katherine  Dunlap  Gather 

1ATELY  an  understanding  has  been  growing  of  the 
-^  usefulness  of  the  story  as  a  tool  for  imparting  infor- 
mation, for  leading  to  an  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  in 
literature  and  art,  and  for  establishing  higher  standards 
I  of  thought  and  actions  besides  being  a  means  of  enter- 
I       tainment. 

I  In  this  book  the  various  story  interests  of  children  are 
I  analyzed  a^nd  classified,  the  construction  of  stories  suit- 
1  able  to  be  told  to  children  is  explained.  The  principles 
I  of  story-telling  are  discussed  and  helpful  suggestions  on 
I       the  manner  of  telling  are  given. 

i  Finally  there  is  a  discussion  of  types  of  stories  that  lead 
I  to  appreciation  of  music  and  art,  and  that  supplement 
history,  geography,  nature  study,  and  manual  training 
lessons.  The  teaching  of  ethics  through  story-telling 
is  discussed  and  attention  is  directed  also  to  the  use  of 
story-telling  as  a  basis  for  dramatization.  Each  chapter 
ends  with  a  bibliography  of  stories  of  the  type  considered 
in  the  chapter.  There  is  a  general  bibliography  of  story 
literature  and  a  list  of  stories  arranged  by  grades  for  use 
in  each  month  of  the  year. 

The  book  contains  thirty  stories,  models  of  simple  and 
direct  narrative,  many  of  which  will  be  new  even  to 
experienced  story-tellers. 

It  will  give  experienced  story-tellers  many  new  ideas  and 
give  help  and  encouragement  to  the  inexperienced. 
The  author  is  perhaps  the  best  known  writer  on  story- 
telling in  this  country. 

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SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  i 

CREDIT  FOR  OUTSIDE  I 

BIBLE  STUDY  | 

A  Survey   of  a  Nonsectarian  Movement  I 

to  Encourage  Bible  Study  | 

By  Clarence  Ashton  Wood  | 

With  an  Introduction  by  Dr.   Vernon  P.  Squires,  Dean  of  the  | 

University  of  North  Dakota  I 


E 


THE  author  of  this  timely  volume  has  made  a  thor-  | 

oughgoing  study  of  the  problem  of  religious  educa-  | 

tion  and  has  set  forth  in  most  interesting  form  in  these  | 

pages  the  results  of  his  investigations.  | 

Complete  information  is  given  concerning  the  growth  and  | 

development  of  the  movement  to  give  academic  credit  for  | 

Bible  study  carried  on  outside  of  school,  either  in  church  | 

and   Sunday   schools,   vacation   Bible   schools,   or   Young  f 

Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations.  | 

= 

The  success  of  the  plan  in  Colorado,  Kansas,  North 
Dakota,  Alabama,  and  other  parts  of  the  United  States 
where    it   is   in   operation   is   described. 

Educational  and  religious  workers  and  all  laymen  inter- 
ested in  the  religious  education  of  young  people  will  de- 
rive profit  from  a  consideration  of  the  facts  here  set  forth. 
Included  in  the  volume  are  a  complete  bibliography  of 
the  literature  of  the  subject,  syllabi  used  in  a  number  of 
states  as  a  basis  for  the  work,  and  specimen  sets  of  ex- 
amination papers  used  in  granting  credit  for  Bible  study. 

Cloth.    viii-\-S17  pages.    $1.50. 

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